


Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga  Alpha Origins

by Veyron722skyhook



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Blood and Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Harems, One Night Stands, Prequel, Romance, Swordfighting, Threesome - F/F/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 270,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22833061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veyron722skyhook/pseuds/Veyron722skyhook
Summary: You've seen the original story and probably know the story of the legendary Alpha Squad. But have you been told everything? Now, the previously untold 10 year story of Alpha Squad is uncovered and a new adventure begins, starting from the birth of a leader right to the ending that started it all.
Relationships: Male Shepard/Original Asari Character(s), Original Asari Character(s)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1, Elysium

**Did you miss me?! ;)**

**It's nice to be back after 5 weeks!**

**So, here begins the start of Alpha Origins.**

**Before we start, probably just a few things I want to quickly say. Firstly: In case anyone didn't get it in my last chapter of ME3, I will no longer be doing weekly chapters. For Origins, I'm going back to the old ways of uploading chapters when they are ready. I know this may sound a tiny bit disappointing to some, but I assure you it's not me being lazy. It's better this way and now I won't feel pressured to finish a chapter before a certain deadline.**

**Also, if there are any people who are often not fond of prequel in general and have concerns about this, I assure you I don't intend to make the mistakes bad prequels often make.**

**I always had the idea of a prequel when I first conceived the trilogy and it was written with a prequel in mind by having loads of additions added to it that would be explained and expanded on in this. Continuity is also something that I will make sure is seen to, not just for the Helldiver side of the story, but also the Mass Effect as well. Another things I am aiming for this story is that it will have, not necessarily a darker tone from the trilogy, but a more gritty and serious one. Alpha's story is far from plane sailing, let me tell you that.**

**One more thing as well. There are still some parts of the story I haven't fully decided yet. Alpha Origins spawns 10 years, and although I've got loads of things to put in, I could do with more bits to fill in the gaps. So if anyone has any ideas, any at all that they would like to suggest or thing might be good for the story, do not hesitate to suggest them to me. As I have said before, I listen to feedback and am always open to more ideas.**

**Quick thank you to all the fans who were with me for the original trilogy and those who helped shape it and also for their help and some of the preparation for this.**

**So, without further ado, let's get on with it! :)**

* * *

**Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga**

**Alpha Origins**

**Prologue:**

A dark but rather clear night had come over the planet of Arkadia. With hardly any clouds in the sky, all the stars were, glowing brightly in the sky as the planet's moon shone down on the surface.

A gentle wind swept the long grass lands while the sound of crickets could be heard in all directions. It was what any kind of being would call peaceful.

The peaceful silence however was suddenly broken when a figure suddenly ran through the grass, pushing aside as many strands of the tall grass as she ran through it.

The figure was a young Asari, barely just 6 years old. By the standards of her own species, she was still only a toddler. To human eyes however, she did seem the right height, and also looked five years old.

Right now, she was running, her breath panting hard and her azure blue skin gently sweating as she pushed as many strands of the long grass aside. Something was hunting her. She could not see it, but she knew where it was. A few metres or so behind her, more of the grass parted. Whatever was stalking her, was causing that. She could also hear faint footsteps running and a very faint growling sound.

The child dared not look back to see if her hunter was catching up with her. Right now, she was focusing on getting as far away as possible. She continued running as fast as her legs would allow her too, pushing aside any grass that got in her way or tried to hold her back.

Finally she found herself in an opening clearing where the grass had already been parted. She soon realised she'd come this way earlier. She'd gone in a circle.

She suddenly heard the sound of a twig snapping behind her. Then the slow sound of footprints. Very slowly, the Asari child turned to the source of the sound. The large black four legged figure of a Varren slowly came out of the grass, teeth bared and eyes staring hungrily at her.

The child immediately broke into a run again with the Varren giving chase. She could already tell the odds weren't in her favour, but she had to at least try to escape.

The Varren continued to close the distance between itself and the Asari. Finally it pounced when the child dared risk a quick glance. It knocked into the Asari, tackling her tot he ground. Lying on her back, she looked up as the Varren stood over her gazing down at what it had caught. The Varren growled and then slowly opened it's mouth, baring all it's teeth...

Then it started to lick her. The Asari giggled as she tried to push the Varren off her.

"Okay! Okay! You found me!" she giggled.

Finally the Varren stopped and simply panted happily like a Earth Dog, wagging it's tail in the process.

Kamara T'soni gave a small laugh as she managed to push Urz off her and the Varren allowed her to sit up and she worked on wiping her face.

"Yeah, you found me. Who's a good Varren? Huh? Who's a good Varren?" said Kamara cooingly as she patted Urz who gave a happy purr.

A voice then suddenly cam from not to far away.

"Kamara?!"

"Coming, Mum!" Kamara yelled back as she picked herself up. "Come on, boy!"

Kamara ran through the grass field with Urz following close behind, this time now longer trying to catch her. Soon the two found themselves leave the grass fields altogether. Lights of a massive city could be seen ahead align with the bright orange glow of a small bonfire. Several figures were either gathered around the fire or simply talking with one another.

"Over here, sweetie!"

Kamara looked to see her mother, Liara T'soni Shepard waving at her as she and Urz quickly ran up to her.

The 116 year old Asari simply smiled at seeing her daughter. She felt happy whenever she saw any of her daughters. Cuddled in her arms was the fourth and youngest of them, baby Aleena. Having been born only just 8 months ago, the little Asari need the full care of her mother. Not that Liara minded of course. It reminded her of when Kamara and the twins had been like this. She smiled as she remembered the memories. Only five years and they were already running around and playing just as children often did.

"Just checking where you were, Little Wing." she said. "Have you seen the twins?"

Before Kamara could answer, two more Asari children suddenly appeared from out of the grass.

"I have now." Kamara smiled as her two younger sisters, Etraa and Haraa came running up to join them.

The twins had both been born two years after Kamara so they were now 3. Despite their young age though, the two sisters got along brilliantly. They were often the jokers of the family, often liking to play small tricks or jokes. They were practical partners in crime. Like their elder sister they loved adventure and excitement, a trait all 3 of them took after their father, Sir Major Austin Shepard.

"Guess that means we win." Etraa smiled. She and her sister looked slightly dirty. Probably a result of them finding better hiding places from Urz. Haraa meanwhile just gave Urz and gently stroke.

"Actually, Mom called me back. It's not over yet." said Kamara.

"Playing hide and seek again?" another voice asked.

All three Asari children looked to see their father walking up to them. Liara simply smiled as her husband sat down next to her and they shared a quick kiss.

"Dada!" Aleena said happily. Liara handed the baby over to Austin who hugged his youngest daughter.

"It's almost unfair when Urz join in. He wins nearly all the time." said Etraa.

"Yeah. He found me very quickly." said Kamara.

"He's a Varren. It's to be expected." Austin smiled as Urz gave a happy bark.

"Can we go play with the others?" Kamara asked, pointing over to where several other children were playing.

"Just make sure you play nice with them." said Liara.

All three Asari children nodded and joined the others. Urz simply settled down next to his master.

Austin put his arm around Liara as she rested against him, taking baby Aleena back into her arms. Only 5 years it had been and now here they were enjoying a well earned peace. Ahead of them lay the vast plains of the planet of Arkadia, and just were they were sat outside was the Arkadian City, home to the insect alien race, the Arkanes and also to their creations, the Helldivers. A multi species group that all used highly advanced exosuits, the Helldivers were known throughout the galaxy as not only the largest multispecies organisation ever, but also the force that had helped win the Last Cycle.

10 years ago, a warning left behind by an extinct race was discovered which told of their extinction at the hands of sentient machines known as the Reapers who wiped out life every 50,000 years or so as part of a cycle of extinction. Using this warning, an attempted Reaper invasion was stopped by Austin himself with the aid of his Helldiver squad, Alpha, and the crew of his ship, the Normandy. Among that crew was the Asari sitting next to him who had become his wife about 7 years back.

Though the invasion had been prevented, the extinction had only been delayed. 3 years after, the Reapers finally arrived and so began the war. Though there were a lot of battle and many sacrifices, eventually the Reapers were defeated, thus the war had come to e=be called the last cycle.

5 years had passed since that war, 5 years since Austin himself had destroyed the Reapers and led the entire galaxy to victory. Today though, he was retired. His life as a Helldiver was behind him. Nowadays though, he had a new life as a father, a husband and he still remained a legendary leader in the eyes of his friends, the ones who had fought beside him in the war and were with him today.

Every year, every single one of them gather on Arkadia to not only honour the friends they lost in the war, but also honour the bonds of friendship that the war helped them make.

Austin looked around at all the others. Many of them had become couples just like him and Liara and had had children of their own who were all playing with each other happily.

Garrus & Tali Vakarain. A Turian male and a Quarian female.

Austin had met the two 10 years ago when they joined his crew on the hunt for a rouge agent that eventually led to the race against time to stop the Reaper invasion. Garrus had originally been a C-sec agent but had grown tired of having to confine himself to many of the rules. Quitting C-sec, his time serving under Austin had inspired him to join the Helldivers himself and he soon became a part of Alpha. Like Austin though, he was now retired also.

Tali had been a young Quarian on her pilgrimage, her right of passage into adulthood. She too became a part of Austin's crew and had remained ever since. Now that her entire race had their home world back, they no longer needed to be confined to their suits, or at least wear masks. In fact, while Tali herself still had a suit on, she had her mask off and her turban lowered, letting all see her face.

Now the two were happily married and their four children were currently playing with the others.

Two Turian boys, Vertus and Taraguss, and two Quarian girls, Tildeesa and Liadav.

As Austin looked at the couple, happily watching their children, they both smiled and nodded at him. He nodded back.

Next there was Alaara & Sandra.

A human field comm expert and an Asari second in command, they had been a part of Alpha Squad since the very beginning. Now happily married and also retired, they'd had at least 5 Asari children, Lalare, Kesseri, Veelars, Teelkrin and Beskrin, and had now recently had two human children as well. Aiden and Denise.

Ventra and Leena.

Another Turian and Quarian couple, they had also been in Alpha since the beginning. Also retired, they'd had two children. Gatris, a Turian girl and Meelik, a Quarian girl. They were even thinking about possibly trying to have a Turian child.

Troy and Xun.

One a Helldiver Spy and the other an information broker. Troy had been a Helldiver spy for many years. Hell, he'd been a spy probably just a year or so longer than when Alpha Squad had first been formed. By all means, he was considered a very old friend. The same could be said of his love, Zhi Shang Rhen, also known as Xun. Having been a valuable source of information for the Arkanes and the Helldivers, Xun had eventually been given a suit of armour of her own and had from then on served as their own information broker. Nowadays, she and Troy were married and had only recently had a child, a girl whom they had named Alice in honour of Troy's former lover before her death.

Griffin and Ashley Wilson.

Griffin had joined Alpha Squad 9 years ago during Austin's temporary absence from Alpha Squad during which Alaara had been in command. Ashley Madeline Williams meanwhile was an old childhood friend of Austin's having original joined the Alliance with him before he changed careers to the Helldivers.

Though the two did still continue their military careers, they had been still been able to date one another. Now married, they'd had three children, two girls Amy, Mina, and boy, Kaidan who was named in honour of Ashley's old friend from the Normandy 10 years ago, Kaidan Alenko.

Jack and Kelly Chambers.

Jack was a former convict who had originally been taken from her family by the terrorist organization, Cerberus with the intention of experimenting on her to make her a biotic weapon. Kelly Chambers was the former Yeoman of the Normandy along with its psychologist.

Jack had been recruited by Austin to serve on a team he had put together for a suicide mission 7 years ago. Originally reclusive and full of anger, she had only just agreed. With time though, Kelly had talked to her many times and had slowly brought down her barriers. The two had eventually become a couple. Nowadays they worked at Grissom academy teaching many of the students there.

Urdnot Wrex and Bakara.

Two Krogan. Wrex had once had been a bounty hunter before becoming involved in Austin's team 10 years ago when the truth about the Reapers was first discovered. Sometime after, he left and became the new chief of his clan in an attempt to unify his race. When the War began, he managed to negotiate the cure of the Genophage, a genetic weapon that had been used on his kind long ago in another war to keep them under control. With the help of Bakara, a shaman immune to the Genophage they had both witnessed the birth of a new age for the Krogan. Now their kind was flourishing. In fact, some of their own children were here with them today.

Dash and Jet.

Dashiell Torres/Dash was another veteran of when Alpha Squad had been formed 20 years ago. Natasha Soarin/Jet on the other hand was rather new. She was a former pilot who had become a Helldiver and had joined Alpha just before the beginning of the war, but had been welcome with open arms.

She and Dash had grown close during that time and were now married. So far they didn't' yet have any children, but these days they had said they were considering it if they can get it to work with their careers.

Jacob and Kasumi Taylor.

Jacob Taylor had once been in the Alliance, but after the delay of the Reaper invasion he joined Cerberus. 2 years later however his feelings began to change and he eventually defected upon coming across Shepard and his Squad. From then on he'd worked as a Helldiver agent. Kasumi Goto was also another that Austin had hired to join the team on his suicide mission. Known as the best thief in the galaxy, she proved to be a valuable help to them. Now the two were married and had a son.

Hawk and Miranda.

Like Troy, Hawk was also an old friend of Alpha's who had worked with them on a number of occasions. Despite having lost his eye at some point and temporarily retiring, he alter returned to fight alongside Alpha in the war. Miranda Lawson was also another former Cerberus agent who had defected to the Helldivers. They had also married and had two children.

Finally there was Sarah and Samantha.

Commander Sarah Shepard was Austin's sister. Unlike her brother, she wasn't a Helldiver and was instead an Alliance N7 marine, or at least she had been. She had also retired with her brother after the war and had married the woman she'd fallen in love with, Comm Specialist Samantha Traynor. They'd also had two children thus so far. A girl, Alexa, and a boy, James. They had named James after Sarah's friend, James Vega who had died fighting in the war.

Among the couples were plenty of other familiar faces.

Urdnot Kraan, Alpha's heavy weapon Korgan expert.

Urdnot Grunt, another Krogan team member recruited during the suicide mission.

Joker and EDI, the Normandy's human and AI pilots, who were also a couple.

General Zartrack, Austin's mentor.

Dell Arturus, his wife Uthenra, and their daughter Sill, an Arkane family that was close friends with Alpha and had helped them in the war.

Legion, a Geth infiltrator with the ability to speak who had played a vital part in the Geth Quarian peace.

Former assassin Thane Krios and his son, Kolyat.

Samara, an Asari Justicar.

Dr Chakwas & Dr Michel, the Normandy's former medical doctors.

Zaeed Massani, a bounty hunter also originally hired for the suicide mission.

And finally Queen Meeralack, the matriarch of the organic Takaal.

Even she honoured the sacrifices of those in the war and the allies her race had gained in the war. Already her people now had an embassy on the Citadel. There had even been talk that the Takaal may be close to joining the Citadel Council after the Arkanes had quit their own position due to the many restrictions and frustrations they'd found.

Many of the adults were simply talking with one another while the children played. It always brought a smile to Austin's face knowing that in only 5 years they had also come this far.

Eventually, many of the others started to head inside while the children continued playing. While Liara joined them, Austin decided to stay. He liked the outdoor air, and it was a very beautiful night. The nearby campfire would also be a good source of warmth and all the children were old enough to be sensible around it. Urz also remained by his side to keep an eye on the children. Ever since Kamara had been born, Urz had almost become like a second father tot he children. He'd looked after them as though they were his own, and he'd often let them ride on his back when they were little. Baby Aleena especially enjoyed this.

As Austin took a seat in front of the campfire while still watching the children play, he gazed up at the night sky. He was reminded of nights many years ago, back when he was a much younger man. It reminded him of days he hadn't thought of in a very long time. It had been almost 20 years now since that fateful day when it all began.

Austin was suddenly interrupted when he saw practically all of the children sitting in front of him on the other side of the fire. All of Alpha Squad surprisingly had also remained behind and were sitting with their young.

"Let me guess. You're hoping for another story?" he smiled.

"Yay!" they all cheered together.

Austin simply smiled. Ever since the first anniversary of the war, he'd become well known among all the children not just as the legendary hero that destroyed the Reapers, but also as a great story teller.

"Hmm, well then, what could I tell you this year?" he said, trying to think of something.

"Tell us that one how you fought that bad Geth!" one child said.

"We hard that last year. We want something new." another one said.

"Why not our story?" said Dash. He'd only meant that as a joke, but rather to his surprise, all of the children seemed to cheer and agree to that. Even the rest of Alpha liked the sound of that.

"Really? You want to hear the 10 year story of how Alpha Squad first came together?" Austin asked. He had to admit, this was rather new. Still, he wasn't complaining.

"I think they'd enjoy it." said Liara, cuddling Aleena in her arms. " Some of us newer faces are also curious."

It was true, that some of Alpha's newer members didn't know the full story of the legendary Alpha Squad.

Austin gently settled himself so he was sitting comfortably and looked in to the fire as he tried to think of where to begin.

"Well, you're reaching back decades from now. 20 years to be exact. True this would begin when I first met everyone, but truth be told... I would say that all this first began on Elysium." he said.

"Back where you first earned your fame among others." said Etraa.

"You would be correct, Etraa." said Austin. "Feels like a lifetime ago now, but I remember it as though it was yesterday. Things were very different back then, and I was a very different man. I was still a Lieutenant back then. Just a simple Helldiver soldier sent on a mission to improve relations with the Alliance. Little did I know that that day was the day that would change my life, forever...

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Elysium**

The occasional turbulence and rocking of the Alliance shuttle was gentle enough that it was a comfortable ride for all it's soldiers. Normally Allaince soldiers who came to Elysium were here for shore leave, and that was true of many of the soldiers now sitting in the confined space of the shuttle. There were a few though in armour. Some of them were on duty. Most of them were engaged in simple light conversation discussing how they were going to spend their leave or what they had planned. The conversation among the soldiers in a rumour however was different. It was regarding the figure sitting in the shuttle with them.

"So this is one of those famous Helldivers we keep hearing about." said one of them, looking at the large armoured figure impressively.

"Man, I gotta get me one of those." said another.

"Yeah, like the Arkanes are gonna spend millions to protect your scrawny ass, Johnson."

"Hell, you won't be mouthing off when I've got my super suit. I'll go ninja on your ass."

"Now that I'd like to see."

Despite the conversation though, the Helldiver sitting among them didn't say anything. In fact, he barely moved. It was certainly awkward for the soldier sitting next to him. She was female, with short blonde hair and green eyes. Like her fellow soldiers, she too was dressed in Alliance armour.

Unlike her fellow soldiers however, she was not part of the conversation.

"Why'd do you think this guy's here?" asked one of the male soldiers. " I mean, Helldivers don't often come here without good reason."

"You could ask him." another suggested.

"I'd have better luck getting Alice here into bed. This guy hasn't said a damn word since he got inboard. Beginning to think he's dead in that thing."

"Leave him alone. He obviously doesn't wanna talk to you." said Alice, trying to sound defensive.

She knew it wasn't much use though. How could she speak for a Helldiver? Especially when she was in the minority among several other cocky male soldiers.

"So what are you, his mind reader?" one of them said.

Alice didn't respond and simply settled back in her seat again. Despite this though, she was unable to stop herself from occasionally staring at the Helldiver sitting right next to her. He was so close that she could hear his suit's breathing. It was hard for her not to risk glances. Admittedly, she too was fascinated with this Helldiver like her fellow soldiers. She'd heard all sorts of stories about them and had never seen one before in person. She was both nervous and excited. Th temptation to try and start a conversation was very hard to resist, even though she knew she probably wouldn't get an answer. Why would this Helldiver talk to her when he wouldn't' talk to the others? What made her special to deserve his attention. Besides, it wasn't like they had much to talk about.

After risking another glance, she brought her eyesight down again to look at the floor, simply waiting until the shuttle finally touched down.

Once again though, she couldn't' help it. She risked one more look at the Helldiver. When her eyesight looked right at his triangular helmet however, she was shocked to find that it moved and was now staring right at her.

Almsot instantly, Alice quickly averted her gaze, hoping that the Helldiver hadn't seen her trying to catch another glimpse. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest and she felt it get rather hot.

What came next however took her by surprise.

"You know, I can see you looking at me." sad the Helldiver.

Alice did her best to remain casual, but was shocked beyond measure that this Helldiver had actually talked. After what had been almost an hour and a half now, this Helldiver that hadn't said anything and had ignored all the other soldiers had finally said something, and to her of all people.

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare, I just..." Alice managed to say.

Now that the she was able to look directly at the Helldiver, Alice finally got a good look at him. Unlike other Helldivers, this one didn't look as though he'd customised his armour much. At best he'd simply fitted desert coloured parts in certain places. He also had a few extra ammo packs and holsters for weapons. Other than that though, he had the default look of every Helldiver who first received their suit.

Either this Helldiver was new and had yet to customise his armour, or perhaps...

Alice quickly put the thought aside though. It was impossible. No one could steal a Helldiver. Fromw hat she knew, each suit was DNA locked to it's user and thus only obeyed and worked for them. Any attempted unauthorised use would yield no results at all.

"Curiosity is not a sin." said the Helldiver. "Just be careful how you use it."

Hearing the Helldiver's voice again allowed Alice to hear that this Helldiver was definitely a male with a british accent. His voice was naturally deepened and had a synthetic tone applied to it from the suit.

Other than that though, Alice had little else. She couldn't tell whether this Helldiver was cross at her or anything. The triangular shaped helmet covered a Helldiver's face entirely, and they very rarely removed their helmets without removing the rest of the armour. To see a Helldiver in armour but without the helmet was unbelievably rare. This was part of their training by the Arkanes to make them unpredictable to enemies and in a way to make them more imposing and intimidating. If Alice had heard right though, they did use other means to convey emotions. Often they would use body language and very precise tone of voice to help people better understand how they might feel or what they might be thinking.

Alice was hardly surprised though that the Helldiver next to her hadn't said a word to anyone. Helldivers often didn't interact with Alliance soldiers and the ones sitting near him were hardly the best of people to talk to. She had a feeling that this Helldiver probably felt the same way that a celebrity would when they were forced to deal with several overexcited fans. Not fun.

Alice finally found her voice again and managed to speak another sentence, trying her absolute best to hid show nervous she was.

"I've just... never seen a Helldiver before." she said. "You also gave the impression you didn't want to talk."

"Only to those guys." said the Helldiver.

Although the Alliance soldiers were now talking with each other and seemed oblivious to him talking, he did keep his voice down.

"Yes. They're not everyone's cup of tea." said Alice, finally starting to relax a bit more. "To be fair though, you can't blame them. We've never seen a Helldiver before. It's like having a member of the Citadle Council sitting with us."

The Helldiver looked at her for a moment, his expressionless optic eyes attached to his helmet lightly glowing.

Alice feared she had gone too far saying that and had a feeling that was the last she was going to get out of him. But then he spoke again.

"True. I guess I just don't like a lot of attention." he said, giving a small sigh.

Alice didn't really know how to respond to that. It was understandable. Some people preferred to be left alone. She eventually felt it best to just leave it at that.

The Helldiver noticed her slightly disappointed expression though.

"But at the same time, it doesn't hurt having one person to talk to." he added.

Alice's modd brightened and she look back at the Helldiver. She could not deny she was starting to warm up to him now. He had talked with her above everyone else, he'd just said that he wanted to talk and there was also something about his voice that she found quite calming, despite it's slightly intimidating sound.

"Ummm... thank you. That's very nice." she said, managing a smile.

"What's your name?" the Helldiver asked.

"Meerum. Sergeant Alice Meerum." Alice replied, extendign her hand.

The Helldiver then reached across with his own gauntelted and armoured hand and shook hers.

"Shepard. Lieutenant Austin Shepard." he said.

Alice almsot froze. The Lieutenant part was the first thing that her mind registered and she immediately sat up straight.

"Oh... I'm sorry, sir. I didn't realise..."

She attempted to salute, but Shepard waved it off.

"It's alright, Alice." he said. "There's no need to stand on formalities at the moment. Right now I'm but simple soldier, just like you."

Alice was rather taken aback. For someone who had originally just ignored everyone, this Helldiver was surprisingly polite. She managed a smile which was met with a nod from Shepard. She was starting to feel like she was actually talking to a person rather than just an expressionless suit of armour.

"Sorry, Shepard. I guess I'm still a bit new to taking with Helldivers."

As Alice finished speaking, she suddenly realised something else. The Helldiver had said his name was Shepard. Could it really be...?

"Wait a minute, did you say Shepard?" she asked. "As in **the** Shepard? The first soldier to originally start in the Alliance and then join the Helldivers?"

Shepard sighed, but it sounded like he was chuckling at the same time.

"Just when I thought you hadn't noticed." he said.

"I... well, I don't know what to say." said Alice, unable to hide her excitement.

Not only was she speaking with a Helldiver, but she was also speaking with a well known Helldiver. She'd heard about him from other soldiers. Lieutenant Austin Shepard, son of General Matt Shepard of the Helldivers and of Captain Hannah Shepard of the Alliance Navy. Sole survivor of a Thresher Maw attack on Akuze and the first ever person known to originally start in the Alliance and then change becoming a Helldiver.

"Just don't go blurting it everyone." said Shepard. "As you know, I don't like a lot of attention."

Alice nodded understandingly.

"It's a real honour, sir." she said, making sure to keep her voice low. "They tell among stories of you among the brass."

"They have been known to exaggerate." said Austin, trying hide that he clearly was a bit flattered.

"Even so, you're still well known among many here." said Alice. "Speaking of which, why are you here? I mean, assuming you are allowed to talk about it."

Shepard was silent for a moment.

"I'm here to try an improve relations between the Alliance and the Helldivers. Admittedly not the best assignment." he sighed.

"Well... "Alice began, trying best to think of how to say what she was about to. "If so, why ignore everyone?"

"Soldier morale's not in the job description." Shepard replied. "Besides, I don't like being some Alliance or Helldiver poster boy. So I started off in the Alliance then joined the Helldivers. It's not that big of a deal."

Alice thought of replying to that with "When was the last time it happened?" but decided that would be one step too far. This guy seemed very friendly, he last thing she wanted was to ruin the moment.

"I may not agree with you..." she finally replied. "...but I understand."

Shepard started at her for a moment, then replied. "Good. No more need be said."

He then changed the subject.

"I'm guessing your not here for shore leave?"

"Sadly no. Someone's occasionally got to do the extra work." Alice sighed.

"You seem willing though."

"If I don't, who will?" Alice replied.

"Admirably said." said Shepard.

"Some people don't fully understand what being in the Alliance is about. It's about fighting for humanity so that they'll always have freedom. If we let someone take that freedom from us, what's the point?" said Alice.

She couldn't tell for certain, but she had the strangest feeling that Shepard was smiling at her under his helmet. Before the conversation could continue, the engines outside changed their sound indicating they were coming in to land. Many of the soldiers started picking their bags and weapons up or taking them down from the overhead racks. Shepard stood up and took his own bag down. Alice couldn't help but also notice he seemed to be holding something else. It almost looked like... a sword.

The shuttle then gently touched down and the ramp lowered itself. Bright sunlight spilled into the cabin and everyone began slowly walking out. Alice and Shepard then joined them. As they reached the bottom, they prepared to go their separate ways.

"I doubt this goodbye." said Alice. "But I will say it was nice to meet to you, Shepard."

The two shook hands.

"Same." Shepard replied. "Nice to have someone to talk to for a change."

* * *

The two separated and walked off. From behind his helmet, Austin watched Alice leave. He had to admit he found her reason for being here quite admirable. Not that he thought badly of the Alliance. Hell, he'd had a childhood friend who'd joined the Alliance with him back in he day. Sadly they didn't see each other anymore. They had tried to keep in contact, but ultimately they became to busy to find time.

The Helldiver took a moment to admire Elysium. Quite the place. Nice open fields, great sunlight, plenty of luxuries to enjoy. It would certainly be hard for him to resist enjoying himself while he was here. Hopefully if negotiations with the Alliance went well here though, perhaps he might get a chance.

Bringing his mind back tot he task at hand, he headed to Elysium's Alliance barracks. He soon found the officer in charge.

"Ah, Lieutenant Shepard. We've been expecting you." said the Captain.

Austin saluted.

"Captain."

"You may stand at ease." said the Captain.

Austin did so and relaxed. The captain then motioned for him to follow and he matched pace.

"It's almost a shame you're not here to enjoy shore leave here. Elysium is definitely the kind of place you'd enjoy." said the Captain.

"I couldn't agree more, sir." said Austin. "I understand that many of the brass are here as well for our... negotiations."

"Yes." said the captain. "The meeting is planned for tomorrow morning. In the meantime though I'm sure you could use some rest. It must've been a long trip."

Austin could not deny some rest before tomorrow would be nice." he said.

"Then by all means. I will come by when the meeting is due to begin." said the Captain.

Austin saluted and left.

At the moment, Austin's wasn't terribly tired and he figured that some it wouldn't hurt to try and watch the sunset a bit.

It didn't go well however. A young Alliance private who had obviously not been hardened, or for that fact, matured by his training had suddenly come up to him and had started going on about how he was a huge fan and it was such a pleasure to be in his presence. Worse still, the guy seemed to recognize who he was and started going on about Austin's Alliance career. For a time, Austin tired to ignore him and simply read a magazine. He even muted his audio feed, but he could still see the young fan mouthing away at him like some nerd meeting his all time hero.

Finally, it became too much for him. Just as the private was starting to mention how he'd first seen a Helldiver in a Blasto movie, Austin suddenly pointed in the other direction.

"Hey, is that Blasto?" he said.

Right as the private looked in that direction, he suddenly brought his elbow right into the private's face, knocking him out instantly. Placing the magazine in the private's arms so that it looked like the guy had simply fallen asleep, he got up and decided it would be better to get rest. He clearly wouldn't get any relaxation out here.

"Rookies." he sighed.

* * *

Austin headed to where there were available rooms. He soon found one that was vacant and made himself at home. The bed was small, but it would do. He wouldn't be here too long after all. Plus, he could easily sleep in his suit if he found it too uncomfortable.

Right now though, he definitely needed to get out of his suit. He'd been inside it all day and he hadn't had a chance to properly rest since he left Arkadia.

His Helldiver armour slowly opened up as pieces either slid away or rotated out of the way until he could finally step out. Pausing to stretch and flex his muscles he then unzipped the skin-tight full body suit mesh that he'd been wearing inside the armour until he was just left in his boxers. Pausing quickly to give his face a wash, he looked at himself in the mirror.

For a soldier he had surprisingly long brown hair which reached all the way down to his neck. Given however that Helldivers didn't have the same sort of restrictions when it came to hair, it made sense that was allowed to have it that long. The hair was pretty much let down without anythign tying it back, so it did frame his face a little bit, but only on the sides. It had a bit of a rugged look as well, most likely because it was so hard to use a comb on. One or two scars also adorned his face. A small one on his right cheek, and acid burn on his left and also one on the right side of his forehead, causing two small partings at the front of his hair as a result. He had brown eyes and was also cleanly shaven. A small bit of his right eyebrow was also missing as a result of another small scar on his forehead.

One or two scars adorned his fairly muscular body as well, but they did little to distract from his physique. Any woman who saw him like this right now would almost certainly find it hard not to be distracted. Helldiver training, regular workouts and a healthy lifestyle kept him in good shape. Not to mention that the small enhancements that Arkanes gave to all Helldivers made him slightly stronger and more endurable than a normal human.

Leaving his suit to seal itself back up, he slowly climbed into the bed and drew the covers over him. Letting his tiredness finally take over, he slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to his sleep.

* * *

Hours passed until Austin finally woke up. Gently opening his eyes, he sat up and stretched. As he finished washing and stepped out of the shower, he suddenly heard something. A very faint boom coming from outside. For a moment, Austin froze to try and hear the sound more clearly. Then it happened again, this time louder and he also felt it through some faint shaking of the whole building.

Knowing an attack when he heard and felt it, Austin quickly pulled his boxers and suit mesh back on. Right as he was about to enter his suit however, a sudden explosion tore away a huge portion of the wall. Many of the supports to the building collapsed and a vast part of the floor gave way.

Austin found himself sliding down, his armour following him as the floor tipped it over.

Desperately, Austin tried as best he could to push himself closer to the armour. If he could just get close enough, he could get back inside it and he would no longer have to worry about the fall killing him.

Pushing as best he could while he continued to slide down the slope, he final managed to touch the armour. It instantly reacted to the light touch of its master and opened up. Getting a firm grip on a piece of the armour, Austin managed to pull himself in and the armour resealed itself. The armour's systems quickly activated and the optical feed and HUD appeared on the inside of the helmet.

Austin readjusted himself so that when he landed, it would be on his feet. His body skidded along the floor as he finally reached the bottom. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he rolled to reduce the impact. Due to his speed, he ended up slightly losing control and fell on his front. But at least now he wasn't falling anymore.

Picking himself up, he now saw a new sight. Elysium was no longer the usual beautiful paradise it had been when he arrived. There were explosions and fire all over the place and much of the ground had been turned up. The sky was dark as many Batarian and pirate ships hovered over the battle, drops of troops deploying from each one. The Alliance was already fighting, but they weren't taking back any ground.

"Bloody hell." Austin gasped to himself. This had been the last thing he would've expected to happen on this mission.

An object then suddenly landed next to him. He recognized it as the bag he had brought her with him. He was most thankful that had survived as he quickly pulled it towards him and opened it up to reveal all his weapons inside. He immediately took them all out and holstered them to his back. The sword that had also been strapped to the bag was also unclipped and he strapped it tight to his back. Austin then slowly rose up and drew out his Helldiver assault rifle.

The surprise of the attack left him and his focus now shifted to fighting and drawing back the attackers. He broke into a run to join the other Alliance soldiers currently taking cover behind pieces of debris thrown up be the explosions.

His presence among them was most welcome as he took cover trying to look for the one in charge.

"Are we glad to see you. We were beginning to think they'd killed you." Said one of them.

"Who's in charge here?" Austin asked.

"Our Captain and Commander's dead. You're the only Lieutenant we've got left." One of them replied.

Austin was unsure how to respond to that. He'd clearly heard this soldier just say that he was the highest rank right now. The looks of everyone else of expectation made him a little uncomfortable, but he pushed this feeling aside and cleared his throat after a long pause.

"Do you have a radio?" he asked.

"We already got call out. Reinforcements are on the way, but at this rate we won't be able to hold them off." Another soldier replied, quickly ducking to a void a shot as it hit where his head had been.

Austin quickly glanced over cover to get a look at the battlefield. There were more soldier fighting on the front lines, somewhere he believed they were needed. Mortar fire however prevented the others from joining them. There were also some wounded between them and the front line. Austin's first priority became getting them to safety.

"We need to get to the wounded. They'll die out there." He said.

"Cover out there's very bad." Said one of the soldiers.

"I'll cover you all." Said Austin.

With very few other options, the soldiers were forced to obey. While Austin kept them covered, many of the medics hurried out into the field and began dragging the wounded to safety.

To everyone's surprise, Austin seemed to fire with a lot of precision. Some shots from the pirates also hit him, but they either simply bounced off his armour and shields or when they did actually knock him, he didn't seem to acknowledge it. Soon all the wounded were in the clear and already being treated.

"Move up to the front line!" Austin ordered.

* * *

So far, things were not in their favour. As the pirates kept on coming, more and more Alliance soldiers fell.

Alice was forced to duck as another round to the head too the life of another soldier she'd been fighting beside. How had it all gone to hell so quickly and so easily? Just a few hours ago, the fields of Elysium were like a paradise. Now they looked like the sight of a war that had been going on for years.

Many Batarians were part of the assault too. Including one that seemed to be their leader. He was more plea than other Batarians and wore red armour which made hims hand out more. Alice could only fear that Shepard was dead, otherwise he would be here now fighting these guys off.

An explosive round suddenly hit the ground near to her. Alice tried to run, but barely got more than meter away before it went off. The explosion sent her and several other soldiers flying and her vision temporarily went dark.

Although the colour di eventually return to her eyes, her vision was still blurred and she felt so weak that she couldn't muster enough courage to get back up. All around her, ALice could see the shapes of either dead or wounded Alliance soldiers. The Batarians and pirates simply walked over their corpses, shooting any that still lived as they advanced.

Alice then looked up to see a Batarian standing over her, readying his gun. Took weak to move and still feeling dazed, Alice could only brace for inevitable. She had hoped to die fighting if it really was her destiny to die young, but regardless she did not fear dying.

The Batarian slowly pointed his gun at her head, and readied to fire.

Just before the trigger could be pulled however, several shots suddenly hit the Batarian in the chest, causing blood to start leaking from each wound. A concussive shot then hit him, sending him flying against the wall of the trench and he fell to the floor, clutching at the badly bleeding wounds he now had.

Alice managed to look to the side enough to try and see who had saved her. Her vision started to clear up now and she could just make out the shapes of several more Allaince marines and a lone armoured figure.

"We will kill them all." said Shepard as he reloaded his assault rifle and then fired another round, finishing off the Batarain. He then turned to the other soldiers. "Tend to the wounded! Everyone else, hold this line!"

He then noticed Alice lying among the other bodies and hopped down into the trench. Extending his hand, ALice took it, groaning slightly as she was helped up.

* * *

"You alright?" Austin asked as he put Alice's arm around his shoulder.

"Head's... still spinning." ALice managed to say as Austin helped her to a medic an set her down one of the beds.

As Austin looked around, he was unable to deny a small feeling of dread. There were bodies everywhere. Some dead, some wounded and some bleeding so badly that it was astonishing that they weren't dead already.

Although Austin had been trained to handle something like this, that had all been simulations. Seeing the actual blood and hearing the real screams of soldiers dying and crying out in pain, some even crying as some rounds ripped them apart so much their innards spilled out, was something else.

Austin did his best to not let it get to him though. His strong will and experience with loss enabled him to handle it and at least bury the painful sympathy he felt for these poor Alliance marines.

"They just keep coming! We can't hold this..." a marine yelled shortly before a shot hit him right in the head, killing him instantly.

For Austin, that was the last straw. Quickly rising to his feet, he picked up a discarded harness and then literally tore a HMG turret from it's stand. Tying both ends of the strap to either ends of the gun, he then slung the strap over his shoulder. To everyone's surprise, the Helldiver then pulled himself out of the trench right into the enemy line of fire. They knew all too well what he was doing. He was going to take on the attackers single handed... by himself!

* * *

The Batarians and Pirates were momentarily surprised when they saw a lone figure rise from the trench. It was only as they got a clear look that they saw this wasn't a normal soldier. This was a Helldiver.

Some of the Batarians stopped dead in their tracks at the sight of one of the armoured worries some of them had grown to fear and hate.

"He's just one Helldiver against all of us! Kill him!" the leader yelled.

With the strap keeping the HMG up, Austin was able to use just his right hand to aim the huge weapon while his left used his assault rifle. Rerouting all of his suit's energy to armour and forward shields, he opened fire.

Body after body fell as every single bullet managed to hit a target at least once. They attempted to fire back, but the sudden aggressiveness and the fact that this Helldiver wasn't going down didn't help. Despite that several rounds impacted on Austin, he fought through it. He was fully aware of his suit's HUD warning him of each impact and how his shield were only just coping.

 _"Help's on the way! Just need more time!"_ he kept telling himself.

Another dropship attempted to open fire on him while also deploying more troops. A quick angle of hsi body however, and the HMG tore the cockpit apart, sending the ship spiralling out of control and taking out several more Batarians and pirates as it crashed in a big fireball.

Despite this though, some Batarians managed to get close enough and attempted to melee him. Austin managed to gun down one with his rifle and then swung the HMG, knocking over the one to his left. He quickly resumed fire and took out several more Batarians and pirates with well aimed strikes.

Reinforcements had to be here soon. Even the Allaince wasn't that slow to respond to a distress call. The thought of that did at least provide soem comfort int he fact that Austin was facing a whole army by himself. So far though he was on no critical state, his shields were holdign and he still had plenty of ammo in each gun. He let that optimism keep him going.

Taking down two more dropships, Austin let the HMG do most of the work first. More and more Batarian soldiers and pirates fell from the heavy machine gun fire and the battlefield soon become a mess of alien and human bodies, both Alliance and otherwise.

More got close, but the Helldiver quickly took them out. Finally the HMG was empty. Discarding the weapon, Austin now went on the attack. Charging into the horde, he gunned or punched down any that got in his way. True this was more the preferred attack of a Krogan, but it would do.

There were more dropships incoming, but they were deploying troops further away. Soon, Austin had carved down the entire first wave until he found himself staring solely at the Batarian leader. The two simply stared at each other for a moment.

"You'll have a lot to answer for." Austin said bitterly, gently slowing his breathing down.

"If I am to die here, at least my death will be known as having laid waste to this world. Proof that the Allaince is not invincible." said the Batarian.

He then aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. All he got however was a click. It was empty. The Batarian groaned in frustration and threw away the now useless gun. He then surprisingly activated his omni tool and a blade appeared from it.

"Hmm, going to be like that is it? Have it your way." said Austin.

Holstering his assault rifle on his back, Austin then drew out his sword. The bright silver of the blade glinted in what sunlight there was and the handle shone, reflecting the fires around them.

The Batarian attacked first and leapt from the high ground. Austin however managed to counter the attack to the side as the Batarian came down on him.

"I've killed one of your kind before, Helldiver." the Batarian taunted. "Imagine how I will be seen among my people when I kill you too."

Austin didn't reply and simply stood his ground. Secretly he did feel a little smug. This Batarian was unaware of just how good he was with this sword. He had earned it from his own mentor as a gift for being one of the finest at fencing. This also was hardly the first time he's fought out in the field.

Reaming calm, and sticking mostly to defence for now, he let the Batarian relent all his rage with each strike, sparks flying from their blades as the holo of the omni blade clashed with the sword's Kartalrium blade. Eventually he decided to change that. Parrying a lunge, he now attacked. Rather than the Batarian whose strikes were wide and sacrificing speed for force, his were more controlled, they stayed more in and they were also much faster.

The Batarian then cheated and as he parried Austin's blade, grabbed his arm with his free hand. As he tried to swing upwards, Austin used the blade on his wrist to at least counter as best he could. Unfortunately, the Batarian's omni blade did hit from th bottom of his helmet, the omni blade carved upwards cutting through the metal. Autin just managed to close his eye in time as the blade sliced some of his face, just narrowly avoiding his eye and destroying one his helmet's optics. With his feed momentarily down, Austin was left blinded, only able to see with one due to his left having blood in it from the thin but somewhat deep slice on his face, but also since he could only see out of the breach in his helmet.

The Batarian then punched Austin, causing him to lose his balance and fall, his sword falling from his grasp. Confident of victory, the Batarian readied for the final strike. A sudden explosion however distracted him. Both he and AUstin looked up to see several Alliance frigates suddenly enter the fray. Many of the pirate and Batrains began falling back. Austin breathed a sigh of relief. Reinforcements were here at last. Quickly taking advantage of the distraction, the Helldiver unsheathed his comabt knife and plunged it into the Batarian's leg.

The Batarian cried out in pain and instantly back away from Austin, forced to limp due to knife now stuck deep in his leg.

"You just ran out of time." said Austin.

The Batarian ran, limping as best he could as he retreated from the battle, several of his soldiers helping him into a dropship as it evacuated troops from the Alliance fleet now laying waste them.

Austin took a moment to get his breath back. He then reached up and removed hsi helmet and wiped what he could of the blood on his face out of his eye. Now at least bale to see again, he tried to see his reflection in the helmet. From what he could see, the wound didn't look as bad as it could've been. He reckoned at worst, he would have another scar when the wound had a chance to heal. Placing his helmet back on, his optical feed managed to come back online. Austin slowly picked himself up, retrieved his sword and headed back to the front line. He could already hear the cheering of Alliance marines. Soon the cheers grew even louder when they caught sight of him. Almost immediately, they began swarming around him, practically calling him a hero.

For a moment, Austin sighed. He'd come here hoping to avoid too much attention from the Alliance and yet now he had all of it. There was no denying that this event was going to thrust him into the spotlight now, not just among the Alliance, but among the Helldivers as well. His act of fighting of the attackers single handed until reinforcements arrived would definitely not go unnoticed.

If only he had know however, that while he had been a Helldiver for some time now, his story was only just beginning.

* * *

**Off to a good start if I do say so myself.**

**If you are afraid the rest of Alpha may not be introduced for another few chapters, don't be. Chapter 2 will introduce everyone else and we embark on Alpha's first ever mission.**

**Until then, I hoped you enjoy this. Feel free to let me know on your views and I look forward to us all enjoying this new adventure we'll embark on with this fic.**

**As I said before, it's good to be back! :)**


	2. Chapter 2, The Alpha Dogs

**Firstly, can I just say how sorry I really am that you all had to wait so long for this. I didn't have this fully planned out at the time, I ran into delays and I lost motivation for a time. Fortunately, a little push got me back into gear and I finally finished this.**

**Once again, I'm very sorry about the delay. Thank you all for being so patient and I will make sure to make it up to you with the next chapter. Should go much smoother since I have basic plans for the next few compare dot this one where I at first didn't quite know how it was gonna go.**

**Hope you enjoy. Did the best I could without rushing it. This where we meet everyone else. I know some people have been excited for it, so hopefully it's been worth the wait.  
**

* * *

**YEAR 1, The Formation of Alpha**

**2173: 1 month after the battle of Elysium**

**15 Years Before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"1 month was all it took for everything for change. I was about to meet future legends and begin a 10 year long journey that when I came back from, I knew I would never be the same..."_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**The Alpha Dogs**

Sunlight shone through the massive windows of the council chambers. Several high conjoined podiums stuck out of the floor on the far end. In each one, sat an alien form. The Arkane Council.

The Arkanes were a somewhat strange race compared to the many other species out there. They were humanoid of course and walked upright, but that was about it.

They were rather tall and very thin, almost looking insect like. With very black skin and faces that did in a way resemble Mantis' they certainly stood out as the only sentient race in the universe that was insect like. There was the Rachni race, but they went extinct long ago.

Some of them even had slightly different shaped head crests. Some big, some small, some even differently coloured.

All the Arkanes here right now were dressed in finely coloured robes to denote their position on the Council. They were the governing the force of the Arkanes and also not just the true leaders of the Helldiver, but also their creators.

Years ago when their kind had discovered ancient technology that predated even that of the mysterious Protheans found by other races, it had changed their way of life forever. Now they were the most technologically and smartest race in the galaxy. Their greatest creation, the Helldiver was that they were best known for. Famous to some, infamous to others.

Right now, the Council had called a meeting to discuss a new matter that had come to their attention. They were planning to commission a new Helldiver Squad, but there was some debate other this one due to a new idea that had been suggested at one point and had prove quite popular among some of them.

"It is hardly tradition, Councillor Avaritia." said one of them. "It has simply been done for so long to prevent complications."

The Arakne that this speech had been directed at, Avaritia was quick to respond.

"Nevertheless, it has been something we have down for many years now. To change it may have dire repercussions." she said, her voice sounding a tiny bit arrogant and high pitched.

"Or could open the doors to many new possibilities." said another female Councillor. This was Councillor Tarnack.

Each Councillor member went by the name of the star cluster in Arkane territory they were in charge of. They only used their real names after or if they resigned.

The one that Tarnack was sat next to remained silent as he listened. Unlike the others, he worse slightly darker robes. His skin was also darker and his seat towered an extra few inches or so above the others. Councillor Spartan was in charge of the Spartan cluster, which Arkadia resided in. Naturally he was the head of the Council and often the final decisions or verdicts fell to him.

"We have trained or soldiers to look past their differences and work together. This would be nothing new to them, just different." said another Councillor.

"In the short run, yes. But the long run is another story entirely." said another Councillor who was on Avaritia's side.

After a few more gentle arguments and debate, Councillor Spartan finally sat up straight and spoke.

"I believe that if this squad is to be the first of it's kind, it should not just be special because it the first, it also would be ideal to use special members. This is to be the first multi species Helldiver Squad, so therefore it should use the very best that each species has to offer." he said, his deep commanding voice echoing through the hall.

"I concur with Spartan." said Tarnack.

"As do I." said another.

"I."

"I too."

Even Avaritia did seem to be more inclined to reaffirm her arguments in light of this.

"It seems fair." she said finally.

"Then it is decided." said Spartan.

"What shall we call this squad? Should they have a special name too?" a Councillor ask.

"Indeed." Spartan agreed. "They will consist of the very best of each of their kind. They will be, as the human saying is, The Alpha Dogs of the Helldivers. Therefore it easy to think of the right name for them."

* * *

A month now had passed since Elysium, the events of which had come to be known as the Skyllian Blitz. Already, Austin had found himself bombarded by attention. Reporters, journalists, the Arkane Council, hundreds of people had wanted to congratulate him for his heroism on Elysium.

True some of it had been a bit much, but there were some good points. Above all, were two in-particular he was immensely proud of. He'd been made a part of the Alliance's N7 program, something he was most happy with and the Arkanes had provided their own reward by promoting him to Commander. Austin now reckoned it was only a matter of time before he was either given his own squad or put into one. Either way, he was quite certain that soon he'd be fighting alongside and serving with people he'd be sticking with in the long term. By no means was he reclusive, it was only when it came to Allaince marines who wanted his autograph that he went all silent and mysterious. Other Helldivers however, he was very open to.

And of course there was one final little reward he'd got for saving Elysium, and that reward was lying next to him. Just yesterday he'd been in Arkadia's bar when he'd met a rather pretty female Turian. She had recognised him and eventually had invited him to her place for some... well, it was easy to guess.

Austin managed a yawn as he sat up. He looked at the still sleeping form of the naked female Turian. He simply sighed happily and shook his head. He always was a bit of a ladies man, but this was probably the first time he'd ever bedded a female alien. He had a to say, it was different... but by no means bad.

As he considered whether to have a lie in and wait for her to wake up, then pick up from last night, or whether to get showered and dressed, his omni tool then indicated he'd received a message. As he accessed it, his eyes widened in surprise.

It was an order from the Arkanes, and it told probably some of the best news he'd heard yet. Later today, he was to meet with a newly assembled squad that he'd be part of... and he would be the leader.

Austin almost didn't know what to say. He'd long been anticipating this and he looked forward to meeting the people he'd be working alongside for the supposedly the rest of his career. When he read the list of names though, he became somewhat surprised. Some of these humans were human, but others were aliens. He'd be commanding a multi species squad.

His sudden thoughts on the matter though were interrupted when the female Turian lying next to him, Telrass her name was if he remembered correctly, stirred and gently opened her eyes.

"Morning." Austin smiled.

"Morning yourself." Telrass yawned. "Spirits, that was quite a night. Thank you."

"I should be thanking you. Technically your the first alien woman I've bedded." said Austin as he pulled the covers back and sat on the edge. He had a choice, he could either say goodbye now and leave or stay. After all, he wasn't due to meet his new team for another few hours. He had plenty of time to kill.

"You're not leaving already are you?" Telrass asked.

"New orders. I'm meeting my new squad today." said Austin.

"I can understand, but do you have to go right now?" Telrass asked, a hint of seductiveness in her voice as she put her three taloned hand on his shoulder.

Austin slowly turned and looked at her, a smile on his face.

"No... not yet." he smiled.

He then suddenly pushed Telrass back onto the bed and locked his lips with hers, or at least her own kind's version of lips. Telrass immediately wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in tightly as she welcomed the kiss.

"Mmmm, good. I wasn't done with you either." she managed to say in-between kisses.

Austin began to massage the light mounds on her chest which were her species equivalent of breasts. To the untrained eye they would look like part of the exterior. To those who knew a fair amount about alien anatomy, like Helldivers, however, they stood out more.

True it had taken a bit of time for Austin to get used to the Turian female's rough exterior, different body shape to that of a human women's, and even the mandibles. Not to mention he had to be careful of her sharp teeth. When he had got used to it though, the sex with her was as good as it was a with a human female.

As Austin gently massaged her breasts, Telrass gently gripped his back with her talons. Austin had advised her to not scratch him. He didn't mind having scars, but he had a feeling that some clever people might notice they were like love bites.

Soon, Telrass felt something familiar poking the inside of her thighs. She temporarily brook the kiss and looked down at Austin's now hardened shaft. At 10 inches, he put some Turian males to shame. She simply smiled and Austin got the message. Very gently, he pushed inside of her until he was fully sheathed.

"Spirits!" Telrass moaned, her talons digging a tiny bit deeper into his back.

"Impressive. You're still just as tight as last night." Austin grunted as he pulled back then thrust forward again.

Telrass then suddenly flipped them over so that she was now on top and began riding him as he continued thrusting into her. She still felt different to that of a human female, but Austin was able to look past that given how pleasurable this was for both of them.

The next hour or so was filled with nothing but gentle sex. When the two finally finished they were practically spent.

Austin decided to let Telrass get some extra sleep while he washed up and prepared to leave, which he would need to do soon.

* * *

Having finished showering, Austin only had to shave now. As Austin worked on moving the razor over his face though, he suddenly stopped just before he was about to reach the bit around the mouth. A thought occurred to him.

Ever since he'd been promoted to Commander he'd often thought about possibly growing some of his facial hair out. At the same time though he didn't want a complete stubble, otherwise some might mistake him for his father. Then he remembered a particular style he'd once seen before. If he recalled correctly, it was called a French cut.

Very carefully, he shaved off all the facial hair, but left the bit around the mouth and on the chin. He decided he'd let that grow for a while and see how it went. There was a tiny gap here and there because of some of his scars, but that did nothing to diminish the look. In fact it actually added to it. In some ways, it made him look a bit older.

Finally as he finished washing off all the foam, he admired his handiwork. Overall, he felt it was quite good.

As he finished and dressing and now worked on getting his armour on, he heard Telrass moan slightly and gently sit up in the bed.

"Leaving already?" she yawned.

"Duty calls." said Austin.

"Will I ever say you again?" Telrass asked.

"I don't know." Austin replied as he picked his helmet up. "Very likely, you won't."

"I understand. Well, that what it's worth, it was fun to spend the night with you. At least I'll forever remember I got to sleep with **The** Commander Shepard." Telrass smiled.

"Same here. Take care of yourself, Telrass."

"Spirits be with you, Shepard."

* * *

The meeting point for the new squad was an empty hanger bay. As Austin arrived, he noticed he appeared to be the first one here.

The silent solitude though only lasted for about a minute or so before Austin suddenly noticed another figure approaching. To his surprise, the Helldiver appeared to be on what was unmistakably a high tech skateboard. The Helldiver himself appeared to have an armour configuration that was blue with occasional white stripes.

He was also thinner than traditional Helldiver soldiers as well as being lightly equipped. It was unmistakable that this one was a scout.

The skateboarding scout at first remained oblivious to him and performed several wild stunts with his skateboard before he finally slowed to stop, stepped off the board, and with a simply stamp of his foot caught it in his hand as it flew up.

"Not late, am I?" he asked, his voice clearly American if his accent was right.

"Well, so far we're the only ones here." Austin replied.

"And you are?" the Scout asked.

"Shepard. Commander Austin Shepard." Austin replied.

"So… the reports were accurate when they mentioned your name." said the Scout impressively. He then introduced himself. "Dashiell Torres. But you can call me Dash."

The two Helldivers shook hands. Before their conversation could continue though, a Helldiver dropship gently touched down and dropped off another Helldiver. Closer inspection showed that she was a Quarian and an engineer by the looks of it.

"Hmm, nice legs, girl." Said Dash admirably. "What time do they open?"

Dash's reply however was met when the Quarian drew a gun on him and pointed it right at his head. Almost immediately, the Scout got the message and stopped.

"They open the same time I pull this trigger." The Quarian replied calmly. "Want me to open them?"

At that moment, two more Helldivers entered. A Krogan, and an Asari.

"I told you the Quarian had a quad." The Krogan laughed to the Asari.

"Quarian, Asari, and Krogan? Are you sure we're in the right place?" Dash asked, now rather confused by the sudden appearance of these aliens.

"There's no mistake. We've all been selected for whatever this is." Said another voice.

A human female Helldiver then appeared as well. Like Dash, she sounded American, but she had the unmistakable traces of a Russian accent as well.

"Aw, hell no." Dash smiled, recognizing an old acquaintance of his. "They must've really scraped the bottom of the barrel."

"I guess they did since you're here." The woman replied.

"Been a while, Sandra. You look well." Said Dash.

"As do you." Sandra replied. She then looked at all the others. "Curious. I've never known Helldiver squads to be multi species."

"I guess we're the first." Said Austin.

An arrow then suddenly hit near to where everyone was standing. Attached to the arrow was a rope. Within just a few seconds a Turian Helldiver holding a bow slid down the rope until he landed on the ground.

"Now that's an entrance." He said.

"Show off." Said the Quarian, somewhat unimpressed.

"Well, seeing as how we're all here now, I guess introductions are in order?" Austin suggested.

Dash was the first to speak before the others.

"Dashiell Torres, but you can call me Dash." He said.

Simply shrugging, the others soon joined in.

First the Asari.

"Alaara T'onrak."

Then the Krogan.

"Urdnot Kraan."

Then the Turian.

"Ventra Prarken."

Followed by the woman.

"Sandra Whyte."

The Quarian.

"Leena Vas Penthra."

And finally Austin.

"Austin Shepard."

The mention of his name sparked some surprised expressions from the others.

"Shepard? As in Commander Shepard?" Sandra asked in surprise.

"I've heard about you. You're one of the General's kids, right?" said Alaara.

"That'd be one way of putting it. Yes." said Austin.

"Well at least now we know who's in charge." said Leena.

"Still don't fully understand why this squad isn't all one species like all the others." said Dash.

"Because we said so." said a voice.

To everyone's surprise, Councillor Spartan suddenly walked out of the shadows. Everyone immediately saluted.

"At ease, soldiers." he said. "You are correct that the move to have a multi species Helldiver squad is unheard of, but things are changing. As our numbers and army grow we take in more and more different species. The Council has ultimately decided that if we are to keep excelling in our battle against Batarian slavers and any who seek to upset the balance of order, we need game changers."

"Why us though?" Alaara asked.

"For now, this squad is an experiment." said Spartan. "It will tell us if Helldivers from other species can indeed work together in the long term."

"What happens if we can't?" Leena asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.

"Simple. You'll be disbanded." Spartan replied.

All of the Helldivers cast looks at one another. Some of concern, some of enthusiasm.

"So... where do we start?" Dash asked, finally breaking the silence.

"You're being deployed to a recently discovered slaver colony. Objective is simple, rescue the slaves, eliminate the Batarians and leave evidence you were there." said Spartan.

"Sounds simple enough." said Austin.

"Easy for you to say. You proved yourself during the Skyllian Blitz. Certainly for you at least it'll be a peace of cake." said Sandra.

"And it'll give him a chance to asses all of you and judge for himself who is fit to be this squad's lieutenant." Spartan added.

There was a faint murmur among the others.

"When do we begin then?" Austin asked.

"You leave in a few hours." Spartan replied. He then took something out from under his robe and presented it tot he squad. He appears to be carrying several forearm armour plates, each one with a matching symbol on it. "As you all know, every Helldiver squad has their own designation."

"And our squad name?" Austin asked as he took one and fitted it to his armour. The others ono followed. Some seemed a little more reluctant, but eventually fitted the armour.

The symbol appeared to be an Arkane symbol of some kind. It was one they didn't completely recognise.

"You are the best each species has to offer. I believe you humans have a term for that. "Alpha Dogs." So there is only one obvious name for you all... Alpha Squad."

"Catchy." said Dash.

* * *

The ton aboard the Hellhound dropship was rather quiet as Alpha awaited the drop. Some appeared to be occupying their time by either checking their armour or weapons while others simply sat in silence. Kraan even looked like he might have dozed off.

Austin could not deny he was a little nervous about all this. By no means was this his first time in command, but that was with Alliance soldiers. Now he was working alongside other Helldivers who were easily equal to him. Plus, if this mission did succeed he'd be working alongside them for a very long time. Right now, he knew very little about them and only knew what he'd read from their files. Plus, they all seemed a bit reclusive towards each other. Hardly unexpected though, most of them had just met.

Still, he did at least know a few things about each one. Having been given dossiers for them, he did know what their specialties were.

Kraan would be Alpha's Heavy weapons expert.

Alaara had specialties in biotics and she had immensely good fighting skills in hand to hand, even for a Helldiver.

Sandra specialised in field comms, enabling her to hack into any forms of communication, including the enemies even if they used different channels or networks.

Leena was a tech specialist, hardly surprising since she was a Quarian. They often were a very techy race.

Ventra had skills in both snipers and archery. Almost any squad had someone like this.

Dash as Austin already knew was a scout. He'd also had a speed boost fitted into his armour allowing him to run at practically cheetah speeds.

Overall, a pretty good set of skills for a squad like this.

For a long moment, the trip was nothing but silent until Alaara suddenly spoke to Sandra.

"Say, Cutie. You… doing anything later tonight?" she asked, undeniably in one of the most seductive voices ever heard.

"No. Why?" Sandra replied.

"Well, I was just wondering..." said Alaara suggestively. "Maybe you wanna... get a drink or something?"

Sandra couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"I admire your confidence in trying to flirt with me." she said. "But you can turn off the charm. I'm afraid I'm immune."

Alaara looked momentarily surprised. No one had ever resisted her like that before. Anyone else would've surely jumped at the chance to get a drink and probably "coffee" with a hot and sexy Asari like herself.

Keeping her calm, Alaara tried to improvise.

"Oh you're not the first to say that." she said.

Sandra though it seemed wasn't fooled and went back to checking incoming comms from the Batarian base.

"Okay. You're loss." Alaara shrugged.

"So how's this mission gonna go?" Dash asked, changing the subject as he spoke to Austin who was sharpening Excalibur.

"Far as I'm concerned, by the book." Austin replied. "We do our job, and no one tries to be a hero."

"Interesting hearing that coming from you." said Dash.

"Was that an insult, private?" said Austin, rather sternly and so seriously that Dash's response was practically instantanious.

"No, Sir. I meant that as a compliment." he said.

"Good. Rather we didn't start out first mission with inserbordination." said Austin. He then addressed everyone. "We may not fully trust each other yet, but we're gonna have to put that aside. The mission comes first. You all know that."

Alpha simply gave an unenthusiastic nod. Austin had to a admit this wouldn't be easy. Being in command of a one species squad was one thing, to be in command of many different races that each thought differently, acted differently and responded differently was another matter. That and he still lacked experience with this sort of thing. True he could command, but he still had no idea if he was good at it.

Soon the drop ship's pilot alerted them they were approaching the drop point and everyone stoop up. Those that had had their helmets off earlier quickly put them on.

"Everyone form up once we clear the gunship." said Austin over the howling of the wind as the back ramp slowly lowered.

Finally the green light came on giving everyone the all clear and Alpha leapt front eh gunship. Dash was the second last one out and did his jump in more of stylish way than the proper way.

"Geronimo!" he cheered.

Austin simply sighed as he readied for his jump.

"Here goes nothing."

The Helldiver almost immediately felt the wind resistance again him as he plummeted from the ramp, quickly catching up to everyone as they too skydived. Dash was even showing off even more and pretending to relax whilst in midair.

"This is awesome!" he yelled into his comm.

"Wake me when this is over." said Kraan boringly.

"See you guys at the LZ." said Austin, trying to still keep the tone serious.

Soon the ground came into view and everyone braced for the impact. As everyone alined, they created massive craters from the heavy impact. Only Dash was an exception, partly because he was the lightest of the group, but mostly because he was facing the wrong way up and he ended up crashing in tot he ground and burying his upper half. His legs stuck out of the ground and started kicking wildly while some loud mumbles came from under the ground.

"Heh, now that's funny." Kraan laughed.

"Can someone pull him out?" Austin sighed. Not the best start to the first mission.

Both Leena and Kraan grabbed onto Dash's legs and, with a bit of effort, managed to pull him out.

"You okay?" Sandra asked.

"I just got half buried in the ground with only my legs sticking out. How do you think I feel?!" Dash answered. "That was awesome."

"Save the celebrations for after we've done our job." said Austin seriously.

The whole squad remained silent as they made their long journey towards the base. Despite it being a clear night, the darkness offered them plenty of cover.

Pretty soon, their target was in sight.

"Oh hell." Austin sighed. "This'll be tricker than I thought.

The whole base was a lot larger than anticipated. Worse still there were snipers and sentries and spotlights all over the place. Getting in without being seen would not be easy.

 _"If only we had that new cloaking technology now."_ Austin thought to himself.

Recently the Arkanes were working on a brand new technology for the Helldivers that allowed them to mostly turn invisible. At the moment though it wasn't' ready.

"So what do we do?" Alaara asked as she and the others took cover.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." said Austin.

He took another glance at the base. First thing they needed to do was survey the compound more and plan out their tactics.

"Dash, you're the fastest of us. Sneak in survey the area." he said.

"Surely you can't be serious… sir?" said Dash in shock.

"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." said Austin.

Dash groaned. Reluctantly, the scout sped off and into the camp. He was able to move from cover to cover just fast enough that none of the Batarians or the spotlights saw him.

 _"Lot of guards, too many lights and shit load of guns."_ he said through the comm. _"There's no way we can get in here without storming the gates."_

"And we're not equipped for gate storming." said Kraan.

Once again, Austin took the time to think for a minute. True they could try to storm the gates, but the Batarians would call in reinforcements, then they'd be in real trouble.

If comms were cut however...

"Sandra, can you jam their comms?" he asked.

"Not without direct access to their central hub." Sandra sighed.

So that was comms off the list. Then Ventra offered a suggestion.

"If killed some sentries, that might help." he offered.

"Yeah, but the lights will pick that up." said Alaara. "If there was some way to turn them off though..."

Then a thought hit Austin.

"Leena, would it possible for you to cut the power and cause a blackout?" he asked.

"If I had access to a fuse box, then yes, sir." Leena replied.

That seemed like the best course of action. If Leena cut the power, that would give them the time they needed to clear the compound without the Batarians calling backup.

"Dash, can you see a fuse box at all?"

 _"Affirmative."_ Dash replied. _"Hell of a lot of lights and guards in the way though."_

"Not much choice." said Austin. "Leena, you're with me. The rest of you hold here and wait for my command."

The rest of Alpha nodded while Austin and Leena headed in. They would have to time this just right. One slip up would get them spotted and then they'd be screwed.

Rather than go the direct approach, the two Helldivers instead created their own way in.

"Cover me." said Leena.

While Austin kept a lookout, Leena took out what was unmistakably a tomahawk and started cutting the wires until she'd created whole in the fence large enough for them to fit.

Taking cover behind a nearby crate, only a moving beam of light stood between them and the next cover that would get them to the nearest fuse box.

The light moved back and forth across the ground. Not enough time for both of them to go across at once.

"Leena, you first." said Austin.

As the light swept away again, Leena quickly hurried across, pausing only trip up a Batarian guard and silently stealth kill him. Austin then followed when the light made a second pass.

The path to the fuse box was much easier after that. Only a few guards stood in the way. Nothing 2 Helldivers couldn't handle.

As Austin covered, Leena opened the fuse box and began accessing the power grids with her omni tool.

"Ive got access tot he generator and power grid." she said. "Ready to go dark whenever you are."

"Alright, when I give the word take out the towers." Austin said into his comm.

 _"Roger that."_ Alaara replied.

Austin nodded to Leena who stood by.

"3... 2... 1..."

Almost immediately, the entire compound was plunged into darkness as the lights went out everywhere.

"Power's down. Take out the sentries and the lights." said Austin.

Almost immediately, Ventra drew an arrow from his bow and fired. His first shot took out the Batarian sentry in the tower which was then followed by another which took out the searchlight. The Turian repeated this procedure for most of the searchlights that had the best chances of spotting them. The rest wouldn't be as much of a problem once the lights came back on.

Sure enough, when they did, a huge amount of the ground was now completely in the darkness, giving Alpha the freedom hey needed to get on with the mission.

 _"Commander, this is Sandra. I've hacked into the comms. They're treating the lights as if the power outage blew some of the fuses."_ said Sandra through the comm.

 _"But, surely that means they'll send a team to investigate."_ said Dash.

"I'm counting on it." said Austin. "And stop calling me, Shirley!"

From the high vantage point of one of the towers, Ventra was able to better survey the environment now. He could also now see the centre structure.

He then noticed a door opening as two engineers walked out. Fortunately it didn't close behind them due to a malfunction with the controls.

 _"I've got a visual on an entrance. Two engineers just came out and they're heading your way, sir."_ he said.

"We've got our ticket in then." said Austin, readying his assault rifle. "Sandra, can you confirm their comms are down?"

 _"Affirmative."_ Sandra replied. _"It'll take them at least 30 minutes to reestablish contact."_

"More than enough time for us." said Austin. "Alright, let's see what this squad can really do."

Kraan was quick to start the fireworks by firing loads of shots from his grenade launcher. Alarms began going off all over the compound and many Batarians quickly opened fire on their attackers. Gunfire and smoke was everywhere as the rest of Alpha made their way into the camp.

Austin and Leena meanwhile managed to flank the defence and soon had the Batarians splitting up as the two Helldivers suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked them.

For a moment, many of the sentries had them pinned, but the combination of Ventra's bow and Kraan's missile launcher quickly took care of that.

Soon the path toward the main entrance was clear. As they were making their way inside, Alaara just in time spotted a wounded Batarian attempt one last shot from his rocket launcher.

"Watch out!" she yelled as she pushed Sandra out of the way just as the rocket fired.

Just in time, she managed to throw up a biotic barrier around herself and it absorbed the impact.

With a final breath the Batarain died and Alaara deactivated her biotics.

"You saved my life." said Sandra, somewhat surprised.

"Your too pretty to be spoiled by the impact from a rocket." said Alaara.

Sandra couldn't help but smile. Despite that she'd declined the seduction from this Asari earlier, she felt slightly differently now. This alien had just thrown herself in the line of fire for her. It would be rude not to show some gratitude at least.

"You know, just maybe, I may now be tempted to let you buy me a drink." she said.

Alaara was about to say something, but Sandra, guessing what she was gonna say interrupted.

"No sex." she said quickly.

"Spoilsport." Alaara muttered.

"Still, I owe you for that." said Sandra "Thank you."

"You're welcome." said Alaara as she couldn't help but touch Sandra's behind. The comm specialist however quickly motioned her to back off.

"We were having a moment there. Don't spoil it." she said.

"Certainly is feisty, isn't she?" Ventra muttered.

"Indeed." Austin simply nodded. "Anyway, let's get on with this."

* * *

All that was left was to breach the main control center. After that, they just needed information on where the slaves were.

"Set up to breach." Austin ordered.

Everyone immediately got into position, taking cover either side of the door while Austin took point. Leena reached forward and placed a detonator on the door.

"Placing detonator." she said. She then armed the device and backed away. "Stand back."

"Fire in the hole!"

The device blew and the door slid open. Everyoen quickly filed itnot he room signle file and srpead out. The breach was quick and efficent. Within less thana second, every hostile was dead, leaving just one wounded.

"Clear." said Ventra, scanning the area.

"Clear." Austin added as he did the same.

"Area's secure." said Alaara.

"Quite the operation they've got going on here." said Ventra, observing the room.

"That's what worries me." said Sandra.

Kraan meanwhile checked for anything hidden just to be certain. As he cracked open a locker he found what looked like an encrypted datapad.

"Found something." he said, holding the pad up.

'I'll take that, Kraan." said Sandra

Kraan simply tossed the dat pad to her and she caught it. She began trying to decrypt it while Austin began his interrogation of the Batarian they'd left alive.

"Talk! Where are the slaves?" he said, forcing the Batarian's head against the console.

"I'm not telling you anything, Helldiver scum!" the Batarian spat back.

"Wrong answer."

Austin brought his knee right into the Batarian's stomach then threw him hard again the floor. He then picked him up again and pinned him to the wall with his arm.

"Spill it!" he yelled.

"Fuck you!" the Batarian replied.

Austin began tightening his grip when Leena suddenly walked up to him.

"Sir... do you mind letting me try?"

"Go ahead."

"A Quarian. Ha! What are you gonna do? Gently beat me so you don't risk getting an infection?!" the Batarian laughed.

The laughter however was short lived before Leena suddenly drew her combat knife and plunged it right into the Batarian's ribs. He almost immediately cried out in pain.

"You bitch!"

"I haven't even started. Tell us where the slaves are or I'll hack you to pieces." Leena threatened, her tone even darker than Austin's

"I don't know where they are, I swear to..." the Batarian tried to say. He clearly saw that this Helldiver was very different. This one was violent, and would kill him.

"SWEAR TO ME!" Leena yelled.

She picked up the Batarian and threw him so hard against the wall Austin was sure he heard some bones crack. The Quarian then hauled the Batarian up by the throat, her grip just loose enough that she didn't strangle him, but enough that he could only just breath enough to stay alive.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" she yelled. When the Batarian didn't answer, she pulled the knife out and let it drift lower. "Talk, or I'll castrate you!"

"Alright, alright!" the Batarain spluttered. "They're in the lower levels."

"Thanks for the help." said Leena.

Right as she was about to cut the Batarian's throat however, Austin stopped her.

"Stand down, Leena. Don't kill him." he said sternly.

"You're lucky he's here." said Leena. With that, she simply knocked the Batarian out.

"You didn't need to get that violent." said Austin.

"Why do you care? He's a Batarian slaver. He deserved it." said Leena coldly.

"You know, they'd do the same to us. What makes you any different from them?"

"I don't give a damn if I'm doing what they do. I'm giving these Boshtets what they deserve."

"You and I are gonna have a talk about this later, soldier."

"Note to self, never piss her off." said Dash.

* * *

With the slaves all returned, and the mission a success, things were lookign good for Alpha.

Councillor Spartan was currently debriefing just Austin in order to get the Commander's input.

"You've performed well for your first mission, Shepard. The Council is impressed." he said.

"Thank you, sir." Austin simply nodded.

"Have you decided yet who will be your lieutenant?"

"Not yet, but I have narrowed it down to two candidates. Alaara handled herself and the others out there very well. She's also a very powerful biotic and she was a former Eclispe Lieutenant before defecting to us. So she has some experience and the right training. Sandra though is more disciplined and by the book. I don't object to Alaara being her own person, but still..." said Austin.

"I am sure you will make the right decision, Shepard." said Spartan.

* * *

As the rest of Alpha was kicking back and relaxing, enjoying the success of their first mission as a squad, Austin rejoined. He was tempted to join the celebration, but decided he wanted to sort out the second in command thing right now.

"Alaara, Sandra, I want to talk you both for a second." he said.

The two Helldivers got up and walked up to Austin. The were unsure whether to be concerned or pleased that Austin had asked to speak with them. So far he hadn't yet removed his helmet so his expression was unreadable.

"As you are no doubt aware, this squad is in need of a lieutenant. Now, I've narrowed it down to you two." he said. "So far, I haven't yet made a final choice. In the end, I've decided to try and let you help me. I want you to both think of reason why you should be in command."

"I have experience leading others." said Alaara. "I can also be... encouraging at times, if you get my meaning."

Sandra was unable to suppress a slight chuckle.

"Encouraging meaning, throwing people onto the bed, tearing off their clothes and popping their heat sinks." she said.

"Ha. That's a good one. I need to use that." Alaara laughed.

"And Sandra? What about you?" Austin asked.

"With all due respect, sir. I'd rather obey than command. And if I may be so bold as to voice my opinion, I think Alaara would be better for the position." said Sandra.

"You're making me blush." said Alaara flirtingly.

"I assure you, I am speaking strictly professionally." said Sandra.

"Yeah right. I bet you'd prefer not to boss me around because you'll feel sorry for me." Alaara teased.

"Why would I feel sorry for you? You've bossed around hundreds of times in bed." Sandra replied back.

"Oooooh! Been checking me out, have you?" said Alaara, slightly surprised by Sandra's comeback.

"I hear what I hear." said Sandra, unable to resist smiling smugly.

"Back to the point." Austin interrupted. "Sandra, are you sure about this?"

"100%, sir." Sandra nodded.

"Then Alaara T'onrak, I hereby appoint you as Alpha Squad's second in command." Said Austin.

"Thank you, sir. I won't let you down." said Alaara, saluting. "And if I do... well then you have permission to spank me."

"Hopefully that won't' be necessary... Lieutenant." said Austin.

With that now taken care of, the three returned to their off duty time. They would need to enjoy it while it lasted however. This was only just the beginning.

* * *

**Sure am glad to have that out of the way finally.  
**

**Alright, chapter 3 should come a lot sooner next time. I have a plan for it, I know what's going to happen and I know how to write it. See you next time.**

**Sorry again.**


	3. Chapter 3, Invisible Predators

**My apologies again that you had a to wait a while for this. It took a little bit longer to write than I thought it would. The end result though seems fine to me.**

**My college course will be ending in a few weeks, which should mean I'll have plenty of time on my hands. In the meantime, hope you enjoy. Apologies if it is a bit short, but the humour should make up for it.**

* * *

**YEAR 1, The Formation of Alpha**

**2173: 1 month after the battle of Elysium**

**14 Years Before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"So there we were. A new unlikely band of the best of the best. Looking back now, those missions were nothing compared to the way harder stuff. But at the time, things were very different. Helldiver technology wasn't on its proper feet yet, and we had much to learn about each other. Certainly one of our later mission that I think sticks out was when we were sent on a recon mission. That one was the first of the game changers."_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Invisible Predators**

A week had passed since Alpha's first mission. That was all it had taken for the squad to become settled with each other. Most of them had a very basic friendship with each. Some were still a bit reclusive, but were at least now comfortable with woking with the others. Not perfect, but it was better than nothing.

Right now, Alpha had some free time on their hands. Austin, Alaara, Sandra and Dash were currently using the gym equipment while the others tended to some of their newest gear.

While Austin was doing pull ups, Alaara had Dash's legs pressed down while he tried to do sit ups. Sandra was simply using one of the two treadmills.

"Come on, Torres. Give me five more." Alaara demanded.

"I can't." Dash panted.

"Five more!"

"No."

"Five more, and I'll go naked." said Alaara.

To the Asari's amusement, that did the trick. Dash almsot immediately hauled himself up and resumed the sit ups.

"1… 2…" As he attempted their first one however, he only got halfway before stopping. "Two and a half…"

The tiredness, soarness of his muscles and pain eventually proved too much and he gave up, letting himself fall back onto his back.

"Okay, just flash me." Dash panted.

Alaara sighed and very briefly lifted up her half top, showing her breasts for a split second before hiding them again.

"Honestly. You're a scout who runs a lot, you ought to be pretty fit." said Alaara, still somewhat disappointed that Dash hadn't managed the target.

"I'm built for speed, not muscle." Dash panted as he sat up then got to his feet. "I'm not Shepard, that's for sure."

Austin had now changed to bench presses and was lifting the massive weights. His french cut had now gorwn out even more since last time. He always kept it neatly trimmed at exactly 3mms. After all, he didn't want a fully grown beard. Just a very faint one. He had to admit, it suited him rather well. It even fooled some into thinking he was much older.

As Austin continued to lift the weight, Alaara was uanble to deny that the sight of him hot and sweatign like that as his muscles flexed turned her on a lot.

"Oh, just the sight of those muscles turns me on." she sighed.

"You know he's gonna turn you down. He doesn't believe in sleeping with his own squad." Sandra panted as continued running.

"He slept with a female Turian. What's so wrong about me?" Alaara asked as stepped onto the treadmill next to Sandra's and started it up.

"Maybe he's just new to the whole flirting with aliens thing." Sandra shrugged.

"I guess."

Dash meanwhile took a moment to wipe some of the sweat from his brow using a towel.

"Is it just me, or have you gained some weight?" he asked as he watched Sandra run.

"It's called upper body strength, Dash. Get a girlfriend." Sandra sighed.

"Wish it were that easy."

The Scout decided he'd call it a day and went to joint he others who were mostly in their armour.

"She working you hard?" said Leena as she worked on incorporating some of the new tech into Kraan's armour.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Dash panted. He finally lay down and let a long loud sigh. "Ever since Shepard made Alaara second in command she's become a right…"

Before he could finish however, a light biotic warp suddenly hit him and caused him to fall of the bench he'd just been resting. Kraan almost immediately burst out laughing.

"Hey!" Dash yelled as he picked himself up.

"Don't make me force you to do more." said Alaara.

Dash simply lay back down again and kept his mouth shut. As the running continued, Alaara found her clothes already starting to get sticky from the sweat. Eventually, she pulled off her top and took several breaths.

"Do you have too?" Sandra sighed.

The fact that Alaara wasn't afraid at all of being naked among her friends was sometimes a distracting issue, especially for the men. For the other two women, it was more embarrassing.

"I'm sweaty." Alaara shrugged. "Besides, you don't hear Shepard complaining."

"Alaara, put your top back on, now." Austin simply replied, not even lifting his head as he continued with his weightlifting.

"Spoilsport." Alaara muttered as she slid her top back on.

"I heard that!"

Back with the others meanwhile, Leena was just finishing up while Kraan and Ventra appeared to be having a little debate on a new gun int he market.

"Big gun, it's all I'm saying." said Kraan.

"I figure it's the better deal though with extra ammo and less recoil." Ventra shrugged, shifting his gaze back and forth between the Krogan and his bow as he made some small modifications.

"Packs less punch though. Not as fun."

"That should do it." said Leena as she finished her work.

"Don't need that extra ammo capacity." said Kraan as he slowly stood up.

"I'm just saying, she's the better deal." Ventra replied.

"Try it now." said Leena.

Within just a few seconds, Kraan seemed to vanish from sight.

Leena crossed her arms and nodded. Looked like it was working.

The Arkanes had long been trying to develop a cloaking device for their soldiers to use. Due to the huge amount of complications and challenges they'd run into while developing it, it had only recently been finished, and although it was stable it wasn't perfect.

At that moment, a woman suddenly walked in. She had platinum blonde hair and richly tanned skin. She was also dressed in a pilot's uniform, specifically the uniform of dropship pilots.

Austin noticed her just as he finished his last pull up.

"Commander Shepard?" she asked.

"Ah. You must be our new pilot." Austin panted as he grabbed a towel and wiped the sewat from hsi face.

"Alexa Brenin." said the woman as she extended her hand and Austin shook it.

"Good to meet you." he said. Alexa then handed him a datapad. "What's this?"

"New orders from the Council. They're deploying you to another slaver base. For now, it's just recon." Alex explained.

"Sounds like workout's over then." Austin shrugged.

Hearing this, Alaara and Sandra both turned off their treadmills.

"How long does your team need?" Alex asked.

"'Bout five minutes."

As Alex looked around, she was just able to make out the cloaked figures of some of Alpha as they tried out their new tech.

"So they actually got those working. Not bad." she said impressively.

"Yeah. Works fine until you try and move too fast in it." said Ventra, making a quick sharp movement to prove his point. His cloaked quickly deactivated and he appeared out of thin air.

"Who's this?" Leena asked.

"Our new dropship pilot."

"So this is Alpha? You certainly match what they say about you." said Alex.

"We became famous and I didn't know about it?" Dash joked.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know. I know."

"So, what've got today, boss?" Alaara asked.

"Another Batarian base. No slaves this time. For now, we simply recon the area. Details are in the briefs." Austin replied as he handed datapads to everyone.

"With this stuff? Walk in the park. The least they could do is give us a challenge." said Dash confidently.

"Wish I'd eaten sooner. I'm gonna get cranky while on this mission." Kraan groaned.

* * *

This time the Batrain base was right beside the sea of the planet they were on. Not a bad view since the sun had just come out. Too bad Alpha wasn't here for a holiday however. They had a job to do. No time to admire the view.

One lone Batarain sentry was stationed on the beach right next to the water, patrolling the area.

As he went about his business, a cloaked figure slowly broke the surface of the water. Just enough of a head slowly rose up so as not to be seen.

Ventra scanned the area from inside his helmet. For now, it was just the lone guard they needed to take care of. Once that was done, they could continue in.

Very gently, he lifted his cloaked bow out of the water and slowly drew an arrow from the quiver on his back. Sighting along the arrow, he slowly drew it back and released.

The moment the arrow fired, his cloak disabled. Fortunately, the arrow had already hit the Batarian straight int he head before he had a chance to notice.

The Turian Helldiver waited for several seconds on the off chance that another guard suddenly rung the alarm or noticed the Batarian he'd just killed. Nothing of the sort came.

Confident that the area was clear, he made a gentle follow motion with his hand, giving the all clear to the rest of his teammates.

The cloaked heads of the rest of Alpha soon joined him as they too rose out of the water ever so slowly and gently made their way onto the beach, keeping crouched down as they did so.

"Okay, everyone. Spread out and search the area. Stay out of sight and don't kill anyone out in the open." said Austin.

"Understood, Shepard."

All of Alpha went in seprate directions and began scouting out different areas of the base.

As Austin fished his sweep, he took cover behind some crates.

"What've you got for me, guys?" he asked into his comm

" _18 hostiles."_ Sandra replied as the highlighted silhouette images appeared in everyone's helmets. _"Wait, 19."_

One more soon joined. This Batarian looked different to the others.

"Possible person of interest here. Run his face through the database." said Austin.

" _On it."_ said Sandra.

Hundreds of images appeared and disappeared as the Batarian's face was matched with any known to the Arkanes. Within a few seconds, a match quickly appeared.

" _Got it. Drago. One of the Batarian's leading salvers. Runs hundreds of the main operations."_

"Change of plans. We're taking this guy. Alive this time, Kraan." said Austin.

" _Understood."_ Kraan simply replied gruffly.

"Alaara, clear the path." Austin ordered.

* * *

Alaara briefly took cover behind a nearby crate to avoid the eyes of another Batarian. Despite how many of these stealth missions she'd done, she still had to try and keep her heartbeat down. Sometimes it was easy for one to forget that they were invisible.

Once the Batarain was clear, the Asari gently lined up her sights with the one in the tower. Aiming directly for the head, she quickly took the shot. The sniper fell instantly.

"Sniper down." she whispered.

She quickly continued as she followed Drago's path. All around her, her team-mates were moving slowly and silently through other areas, taking down any in the sight.

 _"50 Cal in sight."_ Ventra warned.

Alaara saw it. The large gun would indeed create problems for them if they didn't take it out.

" _Alaara, take him."_ Austin ordered.

"Roger that." the Asari replied.

Alaara began thinking of the many ways she could handle this. The easiest and quickest way would be to simply get behind him. As the Asari made her move however, she quickly noticed something about the Batarian.

"Heads up. He's got thermals." she quickly said into her comm as she retreated back into cover. She could see the cloaked figures of the rest of Alpha also stop. Despite the cloak, that only hid Helldivers from the naked eye. Scanners and thermals could still pick them up as their suits weren't yet designed to hide body heat and pheremones. This didn't mean they were screwed of course, it only meant they would need to be more careful to avoid being spotted.

 _"Wait until he looks away."_ Austin advised.

Alaara waited, gently controlling her breathing so that she was ready to move. Once she did, she would need to be fast. One mistake and she could cost them the entire mission. After several tense seconds, the Batarian looked away.

Alaara moved swiftly. She gently snuck up behind her target and then positioned herself behind him. She aimed her rifle at his head, and pulled the trigger. The headshot did it's trick and the Batrain fell. Alaara quickly pulled the body out of sight as her cloak reengaged after it had temporarily stopped when she fired.

"You're all clear. Move up." she said.

 _"Good work, T'onrack."_ said Austin.

Drago rounded a corner and began talking to one of the guards. Alaara took cover just out of sight.

"I count 3 hostiles." she said.

 _"Hold your fire."_ Austin quickly ordered.

"Double the watch tonight. I want everything to go smoothly tonight. We've already lost a lot of slaves to the Helldivers. My superiors will have ours heads if we lose anymore tonight." Drago ordered.

"Yes, sir." the guard simply nodded.

_"You guys catch that?" Sandra asked._

_"Yeah. Sounds like we don't have much time."_ said Leena.

Drago continued his walk through the base.

 _"Follow him, Alaara."_ said Austin.

Alaara waited for a few seconds until her teammates had taken down the guards, therefore allowing her to continue after Drago. Soon the Batarain was in a wide open area. Very few guards and more than enough spots for everyone to get clear shots.

"He's in the clear. If I may be so bold, I don't think we'll get a better opportunity than this." she said.

 _"Agreed. Everyone, line up for sync shots. Alaara, get behind him and bag him."_ said Austin.

Alaara kept calm as she waited. She had little reason to be nervous about this. After all, she'd done many things like this back before she'd become a Helldiver. Things had been very different for her back then. But then they often were when one worked for the Eclipse mercs.

Alaara quickly cast these thoughts from her mind. She didn't want to think about those times. To this day, she still regretted having been one of those mercs and strived to make a difference, perhaps even hope the goddess could forgive her. Sometimes it did bother her that she never shared this with anyone, but why should she? If her tea mates suddenly found out about this, there was a good chance their trust in her would be shaken.

_"Stand by to execute on my mark."_

Austin's voice through the comm suddenly brought the Asari back to the task at hand. She quickly regained her composure and made her way closer to Drago, going into cover to avoid eyesight. From inside she could see the holographic lines from each of Alpha's weapons as they lined up shots.

"In position."

"In position."

"Ready."

"Standing by."

With everyone locked on, Austin began the countdown and Alaara slowly snuck up behind her target.

"3… 2… 1."

As soon as the one left Austin's mouth, everyone fired simultaneously. The second each shot hit the guards, Alaara grabbed Drago from behind and smashed his face against the wall, disorienting him before she pinned him to the ground.

"Target secure." she said, pausing quickly to check the area.

Everyone else leapt down to ground level and secured the area, keeping an eye out for more guards that might come patrolling while they secured the Batarian.

"Now... how do we get out of here without being seen?" Austin contemplated. Having Drago complicated things. They could sneak through the camp and come back the way they came. That was out of the question. The Commander's thoughts however were interrupted by Sandra.

"Shepard, I just intercepted a comm between the base and a convoy. Drago failed to report in and they know something's up. We're not gonna be able to leave with that many hostiles looking for us." she said.

"Sounds like we're going out with a big bang." said Kraan, his mode brightened now that he knew he'd get to do some heavy fighting.

"Okay. Alaara, stash him somewhere safe. Everyone else, form up on me. We'll thin out their ranks as best we can." Austin ordred. "Leena, Ventra, I want you up in that tower. Kraan, heavy weapons, Alaara biotic barriers, Dash and Sandra, you're with me."

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways.

* * *

While Leena worked on setting up a turret, Ventra scanned the area.

"So... some of the Best Batarian soldiers vs some of the best Helldivers. Who's gonna win?"

"Not them, that's for sure." said Leena coldly.

"Do you ever lighten up?" Ventra asked.

"I'm doing my job, not playing nice." said Leena.

Ventra simply sighed. It did worry him as to why Leena often acted like this. Had something happened to her in the past? He was about to ask, but the sudden arrival of two dropships interrupted him.

Some soldiers hopped out of one, while the others appears to be carrying a large folded up piece of tech.

"I have a visual on the dropships." he said.

"Looks like two squads, and... they've got a heavy mech." said said Sandra.

"Ventra, take the one the mech. Leena, you've got the other one." said Austin.

The two Helldivers lined up for their synch shots and waited for Austin's order to fire.

 _"Stand by to execute on my mark."_ said Austin. _"3… 2… 1… Execute."_

Both of them fired at the same time, each shot taking out it's intended target. The dropship that had already landed reamined stationary, but the one that was int he process of dropping off the heavy mech started fly and spin out of of control as the shot hit it's pilot straight in the head.

"Nicely done." Austin smiled behind his helmet as the dropship and mech crashed causing an explosion that took out at least 5 Batarians. They knew they were under attack now.

"Showtime." said Kraan.

"Silencers off everyone. This is it."

Everyone quickly unscrewed the suppressors on their weapons, except for Ventra who didn't need one because of his bow.

The whole base soon turned into a small war zone as the Batarians opened fire on Alpha. Although the Helldivers were corned, this actually worked to their advantage. They fought well as a team and every Helldiver would rather die fighting than be imprisoned.

Austin quickly risked running out int he lien of fire as he went for better cover. One shot did manage to hi him int he shoulder, but it hardly made any injury. His armour plating saw to that and at best it simply caused him to stumble for a minute.

The Helldiver quickly returned fire, cleverly taking out another dropship in the process.

Another one soon came into view. This one though looked like it was carrying something. Kraan attempted to fire some grenades at it, but they didn't' have the desired effect. The dropship's clamps quickly unlocked and dropped the large white folded top mech it had been carrying just before it retreated front he fight.

"Watch out! They just dropped off another heavy mech." said Ventra.

The mech quickly activated as it landed and unfolded.

"ONLINE!"

"This won't be easy." Sandra muttered.

"About time we got a challenge." said Dash more enthusiastically.

"We're a team, Alpha. We can take this thing." said Austin.

Many shots from Alpha simply impacted harmlessly on the mech's heavy armour plating while it opened fire on the Helldivers, forcing them all to take cover.

"ENGAGING TARGETS!"

The constant fire of the mech's guns nearly tore apart Austin's cover. He was just fortunate enough that Alaara threw up a abiotic barrier in front of him just in time, allowing him the chance he needed to fall back. Despite several more shots however, the mech still wasn't going down.

"Keep it distracted." said Leena.

The others didn't bother asking why and simply did it while the Quarian activated her cloak and very carefully snuck up behind the mech.

A sudden hit from a greened caused the mech to stagger backwards slightly, forcing Leena to back away too far. In doing so, her cloak suddenly deactivating allowing the mech to catch sight of her.

The Quarian quickly rolled to the side as the mech took a swipe at her and then tried to crush her with it's foot. Leena though was able to use this to her advantage. As the mech's foot landed, she used it to spring herself up until she'd landed on the mech's back. As the robot struggled to shake her off, she managed to cut off some of it's plating and began trying to hack it with her omni tool. Very quickly, she found what she was looking for.

"Lights out, Boshtet!" she said as she smashed her charged overlaid in to the mech's circuitry, causing it to short circuit and fall to the floor.

"Nice work, Leena." Austin panted as he gunned down the last Batarian.

"See? I..." she went to say, but was suddenly interrupted when the mech started to spark and fizz violently. "That isn't supposed to happen."

"It's gonna blow!" Dash yelled as he instantly broke into a sprint with everyone else quickly doing the same.

When the explosion finally did come, I swept everyone off their feet, literally. The explosion could only be described as essentially a miniature nuculer explosion, complete with a mushroom cloud.

Only Kraan was still on his feet due to howe heavy he was. However as he continued running, he failed to notice a large piece of metal heading right at him.

"Kraan, look out!" Ventra yelled, managing to grab hold of something to stop his rolling.

The warning came too late though. The metal hit Kraan int eh face and landed on top of pinning.

"Ouch, that had to hurt." said Alaara.

When the explosions finally died down, everyone quickly hauled the metal off of their Krogan conrad. For the moment, he just lay there, motionless.

"Is he dead?" Sandra asked with concern.

"Let's poke him and find out." Dash suggested

"Good idea." said Austin. "Dash, poke him."

Dash, having more meant it as a joke of course did not react well to this.

"WHAAA?!"

"That's an order." said Austin.

"Can't we put it to a vote?" Dash argued.

"Okay. We'll put it to a vote."

"Dash." everyone said simultaneously.

"I want a recount." Dash argued again.

Austin simply folded his arms. Despite that his helmet hid his expression, Dash could clearly tell what look the Helldiver was giving him. Austin was being serious.

With a deep sigh he very slowly and gently moved up to the unconscious Kraan. He cautiously poked the Krogan a few times. No reaction. This time he poked him even more. Still nothing.

"Yep. He's alive, but is totally out of it." the Scout sighed with relief.

"That complicates things. None of us can move him 'cause he's too heavy." said Alaara.

"Everyone, work on gathering up the bodies. We leave no evidence that we were here. Dash, try and see if you can wake him up." Austin ordered.

"You want me to wake a sleeping Krogan?" said Dash

"You want to be one trying to get him into the dropship?" Austin simply replied.

"Okaaay, let's get his helmet off!" said Dash, quickly changing his mind.

"Alex, we're ready for pickup." Austin spoke into his comm as Dash managed to deactivate Kraan's armour lockdown remove his helmet. "Be advised, we have a target as prisoner."

 _"Copy that. I'm on my way."_ Alex replied.

"Ohhhhhhh, Kranneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Time to wake uuuuuuuuuuuuupppp!" Dash called as he knelt over Kraan.

He then slapped Kraan across the face, pausing to speak in-between each slap.

"Rise and shine, Stubby!"

"Wake up!"

"Up and at'em!"

"Fine then."

"THAT'S for all the clown jokes!"

"THAT'S for never calling just to say "Hi!"

"THAT'S because I get aroused when I slap people! Haha!"

"THAT'S because I feel like it!"

"WHY!"

"WON'T!"

"YOU!"

"WAKE!"

"UP!"

"WAKE UP!"

"THAT'S because someone keeps reading these paragraphs!"

* * *

"Is it just me or as Dash sounding all the more insane these days?" Leena asked, completely dumbfounded

* * *

"THAT'S because I like slapping fleshy things with this hand!"

"THAT'S for getting more kills than me!"

"THAT'S for making me love you!"

"THAT'S for making me hate you!"

"THAT'S for never taking us to the prom!"

"THAT'S for always working late!"

"THAT'S for being tall!"

"THAT'S for being the worst gunman in bro-mance history!"

"THAT'S because I want to see if everyone will keep reading this!"

"THAT'S for all the hot gamer girls out there! Hey call me!"

"THAT'S for being a total douche!"

"THAT'S for never washing the dishes!"

"THAT'S for last year's white elephant gift! Who wants a white elephant?!"

"AND finally..."

"THAT'S because the whole setup just added five minutes of bonus reading to the best story ever devised by alien or man!"

"What the hell is he talking about?" said Ventra.

"No idea and it's probably better not to care." Austin replied.

"I guess he's not waking up." Dash shrugged.

Right as he got back up onto hsi feet however, a light goran came from Kraan and he regained consciousness. Dash quickly backed away and tried to look innocent.

"I stand corrected." he added.

"What happened? Why is my helmet off.. OW! AND WHO'S BEEN SLAPPING ME?!" said Kraan crossly.

"It was Alaara's idea!" Dash said quickly as he pointed acusedly as Alaara.

"WHAT?!" said the Asari defensively.

To everyone's surprise, Kraan simply shurgged.

"What?! You're not angry?! Okay, I confess it was me!" said Dash.

That however did not have the desired reaction from Kraan.

"Okay, Torres. I've got a new game for you. It's called "Does a human bend that way?" said Kraan as he cracked his knuckles hard. "COME HERE, YOU!"

Dash almost immeditealy took off with Kraan chasing after him

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Austin noticed that some of the others were trying hard not to laugh at this. Sandra and Alaara especially.

"It's not funny." said Austin, trying himself to also not laugh.

"Sorry, Sir." Alaara giggled, trying to suppress her laughter.

In the end though, everyone except Austin burst out laughing. Austin did snigger though, usually his way of saying "that was very very funny."

Finally as the dropship approached, everyone regained their composure and Austin felt it best to break up the argument.

"Alright, you two. That's enough." he said sternly.

Kraan reluctantly stood down much to Dash's relief.

"We're not finished, Torres." said the Krogan through gritted teeth.

"I said I was sorry." said Dash apologetically.

This however was only met with a hard punch to the face which knocked Dash out. Kraan simply picked the unconscious scout up and carried him into the dropship as the others climbed aboard, Alaara even had to knock Drago out as well to stop his frantic struggling.

Austin simply sighed to himself as he stab back in his seat. Despite some of the drawbacks, and the fact that Kraan and Dash now had a somewhat heated rivalry, they had captured a war criminal and cleared the base. Overall, not bad.

* * *

**My apologies about the Deadpool scene. Couldn't' resist the opportunity. ;)**

**Right, next chapter will be partly based off a film I've seen, so it should take a lot less time.**

**See ya soon. :)**


	4. Chapter 4, The Red Skulls

**(Sigh) Another apology for how long it took to do this.**

**I'm pretty it's not writers block. I still definitely wan to write this story, I'm just struggling with the motivation to actually write it all down. And I don't mean to point fingers, but I fear part of that is because I don't receive as many reviews as I used to. It's still nice that the ones I do get are positive, they're just not as many as before. Some people who used to comment a lot kind of stopped. Whether they've lost interest or simply left fanfiction altogether, I don't know.**

**I know it's wrong to ask anymore of those who take them time to read my work and review it (which I cannot express my appreciation through words alone) but if there is any advice or motivation you could give, I would owe you one.**

**Anyway, enough about me. Let's get on with the chapter. Hopefully it will have been worth the wait at least.  
**

* * *

**YEAR 1, The Formation of Alpha**

**2173: 11 months after the battle of Elysium**

**14 Years Before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"For many more months, it was just loads of different missions. Nothing too special or exciting. But then there was this illegal arms deal near the end of the year. That one ended up being more than just a simple recovery mission. That was when we realised we weren't the only ones with advanced training."_

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The Red Skulls**

This time, Alpha had been sent to small world on the edges of Terminus space. Many kind of illegal activities went on in this sector and very few Helldivers came this far out. It was said that only the brave and the bold ventured there.

It was fair to say that in this corner of the galaxy, there was no such thing a seeing neutral. You were either the predator, or the prey.

Right now, Alpha had to avoid becoming the prey. The Arkanes had got a tip about an arms deal that would happening between some Batarian terrorists and a human mercenary faction. The mercs would selling to the Batarians, something that would not bode well for the Helldivers. Despite how advanced they were, the Batarians were ruthless and they certainly gave the Helldivers a challenge. If they got their hands on new weaponry, the scales would tip even more win their favour. The Helldivers already had enough trouble with the Citadel Council breathing down their backs about how they'd risk starting a war and all that nonsense.

Getting to the sight of were the deal would take place however was complicated. Both sides had already secured a vast amount of the area in advance, landing a Helldiver shuttle anywhere near would be suicide. So a sneaky approach had to be taken.

They'd been able to get hold of a smuggler who could get them past enemy lines, and hopefully close enough were they could intercept the deal. Obviously they didn't want to give the Terminus systems anymore reason to hate them. In this case, it was better to remain anonymous and make it look to each see as if the other was going back on the deal (like was often done in the old days of Earth military).

"Can't we go any faster?" Austin sighed, getting bored with the driver's rather slow speed.

"Not on these roads." the driver replied.

Austin simply rolled his eyes.

"Were are you from?" the driver asked, trying to make polite conversation. "You're not local."

"We're paying you to drive, not to chat." Austin simply replied.

He did at least count it good that the driver wasn't asking questions or suspect him and the others. He'd even grown his goatee out even more specifically for this to draw lest suspicion and to also fool the driver into thinking he was a bit older. He'd trim it back to it's usual length when they got back after this.

"How much longer?"

"Just over those hills." The driver replied.

The sun was starting to go down, leaving the sky a very dark pinkish colour in the distance. By the time they arrived it would be dark. Fortunately, it did mean that Alpha would have the cover of darkness when it came to doing the deal.

Austin Thought's on the upcoming mission were interrupted though when he suddenly saw a vehicle drive out into the road ahead of them and several armed mercenaries stepped out.

"Crap."

The driver was forced to slow down until he came to a halt. Austin simply remained calm. True he hadn't planned on this.

"This area is sealed off. You'll have to find another way around." One of the mercs said.

The driver cast a worried look at Austin who simply nodded.

"I can't do that. If I go any other route I'll miss the schedule. I can't afford to fall behind you must understand." The driver said, trying act casual an innocent.

"What have you got back there?" one of the mercs asked demandingly.

"Basic supplies for the colonists, nothing more."

"Out of the truck. Now."

The driver reluctantly sighed and stepped out. Austin meanwhile remained inside. He'd only get out if specifically asked.

"Who's he?" a merc asked, pointing to Austin.

"My cousin, Winston." The driver replied.

 _"Really?"_ Austin asked in his head.

"Let's see what you've got in the back." a merc demanded.

"This is ridiculous! You're not the local authorities here." the driver argued.

"No, but we're the ones with the guns. Open up the truck and we won't have to shoot you." The merc leader replied, waving the barrel of his gun warningly in the driver's face.

"Fine." The driver sighed as he led them to the back of the truck.

"You... stay in the truck. Hands still." The merc ordered to Austin, who simply nodded and kept his hand in sight. Just out of sight though, his other was moving to a hidden compartment.

"You're not gonna find anything out of place, man. I assure you." Said the driver

"Well then you won't mind us checking just to be safe. Open it up."

The second the door was unlocked though, it suddenly swung open, hitting the driver in the face and causing him to fall to the floor. To the merc's utter surprise all the rest of Alpha Squad, currently out of armour opened fire on them. At the same time, Austin also pulled out his pistol from the hidden compartment while still remaining seated and shot the merc who'd been left behind.

Soon it was nothing but silence until he heard the driver rambling in shock at the sudden appearance of the others. He quickly stepped out and walked to the back. Everyone else was already taking the ammo from the mercs.

"Don't shoot!" the driver begged, holding his hands up. "Who are you all?"

Despite this, the Helldivers simply ignored him for now.

"That could've gone smoother." Said Ventra.

"We'd better keep moving." Said Austin.

"You sure we still need this guy? I don't like him." Said Kraan.

"We don't have to like him, Kraan. We simply have to pay him." Said Austin.

What happened next however came as a huge surprise to everyone, including the driver. Sandra suddenly pushed everyone out of the way, leapt out of the truck, ran to the side of road and literally threw up.

Once she finally stopped, she walked back to the group. She did her best to wipe her mouth and not look like she'd just been sick. She looked very pale and was still panting a bit.

"Chert chto voditel'" she swore in Russian.

"Bloody hell, are you alright?" Austin asked, extremely worried by this sudden and unforeseen event. As far as they knew, Sandra had never been sick, most especially at such a random time like this. Austin was even worried that might be something very serious. Had she caught something? Was it something she'd eaten?

"Yeah. Sorry I never told you this before, but I often get travel sick. Usually the dropships are okay, but in that truck on these roads… quite frankly I'm lucky we stopped." Said Sandra.

"Are you okay now?" Austin asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Said Sandra.

"I'm done! You didn't say anything about this." Said the driver defensively, there was still signs of nervousness in his voice though. The sudden appearance of these aliens and other people had shocked him. Plus, he was just one thin guy against several tough aliens and well-built muscle bound men and women.

"Listen, sweetie. You either drive us there, or we do." Said Alaara as she stood over the driver.

For a moment, the driver stopped being in shock. He felt entranced by the beautiful Asari.

"If you do, maybe you'll get your truck back..." said Alaara. Her tone of voice then became even more seductive to the point where she sounded "And maybe something extra if you're a good boy."

"I must be out of my mind." He sighed.

"Good man." Austin simply said. "Let's move it."

* * *

Having reached their destination, Alpha was now finally armed up. Leena had even got their recon and combat drone up and running. Chances are they were going to need it.

"Drone up?" Austin asked.

"Up and working." Leena replied.

"Okay, people, gather round." Austin ordered.

Everyone gathered round as Sandra tossed a device onto the floor and it began projecting a holographic 3D map of the entire base that was where the weapons deal was going to take place.

"This base was decommissioned last year. They're going to make the deal here. Both sides are in two sets of blocking positions here, and here." Said Austin as he indicated to the positions and they highlighted themselves on the model.

At the same time, several small transports appeared on the 3D map as well.

"Ok. There's the Batarians." Said Kraan.

"Wait a minute, there were three." Said Ventra suspiciously.

"Advance party is clearing. Looks like their leader is hanging back." Said Sandra.

"Okay. I've got security. Dash, you're with me." Said Austin.

"Understood." Dash nodded.

"Ventra, I need you up top."

"Roger that." The Turian nodded.

"Alaara and Sandra , you got the perimeter and monitoring incoming comms. Kraan and Leena, wait for my orders if I need you."

"Fine." Kraan sighed reluctantly.

"Understand, Commander." Leena simply nodded.

"Alright, let's move it."

* * *

"Heads up, we've got a visual on the merc boss." Said Leena as she observed the feed from the drone which was hovering just out of sight.

"Roger that, keep moving." Austin replied.

Proceeding further into the abandoned base, Austin soon caught sight of a merc on the high ground.

"We got a sniper up top." He said. "Leena, take him down quietly."

Leena nodded and engaged her cloak as she moved out into the open.

Ventra meanwhile was one level below the sniper, waiting until the coat was clear and also keeping an eye out for the Batarian leader.

Within just a few moments, he caught sight of the third vehicle.

"Batarian leader inbound, thirty seconds." He said.

"Copy." Austin replied.

* * *

"Is this your boss?" the merc leader asked as he noticed the transport enter the area.

"Yes." The lieutenant replied.

Despite that no one was coming out of the transport yet, the merc leader seemed content to move the deal forward and he motioned to one of his men.

"Bring it up." He said.

* * *

"Okay. Let's move in closer." Austin ordered.

Now that Leena was in the clear out of the sniper's sight, she could safely manoeuvre the drone into position.

"Drone inbound." She said.

From up top meanwhile, Sandra and Alaara had the high ground to not only alert the team if there was any backup, but also so that Sandra could monitor communications better. Higher ground meant she could not only monitor comms, but also jam them if she needed to.

"Handy little spy camera, that thing." Alaara commented.

"Hmmm." Sandra simply nodded, not taking her eyes off her portable device.

"Okay. If you don't wanna talk, have it your way." Alaara sighed.

"Sorry. Just a lot on my mind. These mercs appear to be Russian. Just gives a bad name for me." Said Sandra.

"Don't think like that. You're not them. Besides, I thought you said you were only half Russian." Said Alaara.

"In a way."

"When are you gonna tell us the whole story?" Alaara asked.

It did make a lot of people wonder about Sandra. Although it was true that the rest of Alpha had yet to truly share stories as well, many of them were rather interested in Sandra's. She was half Russian and half American, so it did beg the question why.

"Another time, Alaara." Sandra simply replied. "And no, I am not going to fall for your attempted seduction, even if your are very sexy."

Alaara was actually surprised to hear Sandra say that. Had the Comm expert, which had often refused her advanced, just complimented her?

"Did you just say..."

"I heard. It slipped." Sandra sighed.

"Don't be ashamed. I like being complimented." Said Alaara, smiling naughtily under her helmet.

"Yes. Maybe a little too much."

* * *

Leena meanwhile had now got the drone into position. It was ready to strike.

"Target in sight. Sick 'em, boy." She said.

Activating it's auto pilot, the drone locked onto the sniper, and fired a single shot which carved right through the Batarian's face and sent him falling off the edge.

"Sniper down."

Back on the ground, the two backup mercs were patrolling the area. As one of them looked up, he suddenly noticed the legs and arms of the dead sniper. Before his brain was about to properly process this and realise he need to sound an alarm however, he was suddenly shot in the back of the head by Austin as Dash and Leena also took out the others. Leena especially was rather brutal with hers. She hit so hard she literally cracked her merc's armour before then using her Tomahawk on him and then then breaking his neck.

"Backup neutralised." Austin said into his comm.

"Anyone ever tell you fight ugly?" Dash asked to Leena.

"Not when they're dead they don't." said Leena as she yanked her tomahawk out of the dead merc and wiped his blood off.

"It just seems nasty." Said Dash.

"Cut the chatter, you two." Said Austin. "Ventra, you in position?"

 _"Yes, sir. Got a visual on the deal."_ Ventra replied as he crouched down on the spot where the merc sniper had been and pulled his bow out. He also fixed a scope to it so that he could gety a closer look at the deal. At the same time, Leena joined him up top.

 _"You got eyes on the merc boss?"_ Austin asked.

"Check."

"Batarian leader?"

"Negative."

At that moment, another very large transport carrying what looked like a massive crate suddenly joined the deal, being driven by the mercs.

"What the hell is that?" Leena asked.

"I don't know what the hell they're doing, but if it's that big it can't be good." Said Ventra.

* * *

'He's coming." Said the Batarian's lieutenant.

"Coming?" said the merc leader, unimpressed

* * *

Still in the transport, was the Batarian leader. He was speaking to the anonymous source who'd hired him. He had no idea who they were, but they were offering plenty of money for this deal, so what the hell.

"I'm at the deal now." The Batarian leader said.

 _"Good. I trust this to go smoothly."_ Said the figure.

"You need not worry about that. It's under control."

* * *

"Is he coming or not?" the merc leader asked, now rather irritated.

"Yes."

"That's it! The deal is off. You understand? Take it back."

"Wait!"

* * *

_"Do not fail me. We've paid you good money for this job. There will be repercussions if we don't get what we want."_

"I know better than to try and double cross you. Even if you do hide your identity." Said the Batarian leader.

_"Just get the package."_

"As you wish."

* * *

With that, the Batarian leader finally stepped out of the transport.

"There he is." Said Ventra.

 _"Any known ID matches?"_ Austin asked.

"None in the database." Leena replied.

"No shot." Said Ventra as the leader temporarily vanished behind a part of the base.

"Show me the credits." Said the merc leader.

The Batarian was handed a case and he opened it up, showing the merc leader the credits inside.

"All there as promised." He said.

Satisfied with what he saw, the Batarian leader proceeded with the deal.

"Open it up."

The second the cargo doors on the massive track opened, a unbelievably loud noise hit all of Alpha's comms, practically deafening them.

"Ow! Fuck!" Austin swore. "Cut the drone's mic! Cut it now!"

Very quickly, the loud noise stopped and everyone turned their attention back to the drone's feed.

"Something's down there. Whatever it is, it's jamming the signal. Strong as hell, whatever it is." Said Leena, a hint of concern in her voice. There were very few things in this galaxy that could be that strong, and none of them were harmless.

 _"Let's take a peek."_ Said Austin.

Leena changed the drone's camera display mode. What it revealed only increased her worry even more.

"Boshtets!" she swore.

"What is it?" Ventra asked.

"It's a warhead."

 _"Fuck. That'll complicate things."_ Austin sighed. _"Okay, I think we've waited long enough."_

The Batarian leader simply smiled, then turned to the merc.

"We have a deal."

The second the last word left his lips however, a shot hit him straight in the head as it carved right through and then also hit the merc leader, taking them both out at the same time. Almost immediately, both sides turned one each other and an instant firefight erupted.

 _"Got 'em both. We're out of here."_ Said Ventra.

 _"Negative. Stay put."_ Austin ordered. _"Neutralise the area. We need to get to that warhead."_

Two of the merc lieutenants retreated into one of the transports and it sped away.

 _"Two in the transport. Your call."_ Said Austin.

Ventra quickly drew another bow and fired, taking out the transport's engine directly and causing it to explode.

"Got 'em."

* * *

Soon the fighting down and only a few strays from both sides were left. Alpha now had a clear line to the warhead. As Austin looked out of cover at it, he saw it had also been armed. That would complicate things even more.

"Bloody hellfire." He groaned. "Alright, we're gonna secure the warhead. Leena, can you disarm it?"

"We're gonna find out." Leena replied as she and Ventra headed down from the tower.

"Everyone else, secure the area."

A lone Batarian scooped up a pistol and aimed at Austin from behind only to be knocked down by Kraan.

"Don't even think about it." He said. "Drop it!"

The Batarian reluctantly threw the gun to the ground.

"Ventra, cover Leena. Keep your eyes open." Austin ordered as Leena began working on disarming the warhead while Ventra covered her from behind a nearby crate.

"Oh boy." He sighed, noticing how exposed they were out in the open. This was as good an opportunity as any for a surprise attack and ambush.

"You ever done this before?" he asked.

"Sure. Except it was a different warhead, and it was a simulator." Leena replied.

"Right." Ventra sighed. "This can only go well."

"Get together! On your knees!" Austin ordered as the rest of Alpha rounded up the Batarian's and mercs.

As Ventra risked another glance from behind cover, he was almost sure he saw something. It was only faint, but he was certain he wasn't just seeing things.

"Sir, there's something out there." He said into his comm.

The sound of a machine of some kind powering up could then be heard, but no one could tell where it was coming from. Kraan, out of the corner of his eye then suddenly spotted something hiding in the shadows.

"Get back!" he yelled as he pulled Austin behind the wreckage of one of the vehicles as hundreds of minigun rounds suddenly fired right at them from out of the shadows. Everyone quickly scattered into cover as well.

"Holy shit!" Dash swore.

"What the hell was that?" said Kraan.

Using the feed from the drone, Alpha were soon able to see their attacker. A giant Heavy mech slowly stepped out of the dark.

"Heavy mech, and a heavily modified one by the looks of it." said Austin with concern. "Leena?"

"One down. Five more to go." Leena replied.

Ventra once again risked a glance from behind cover. Now he could see several figures moving in on their position.

"Unknown contacts are also closing in on our position. More Batarians by the looks of things, only these one are in red armour." He said. "I got nine, no wait... ten inbound. They got flankers."

"Stay on that weapon. Ventra, Kraan, cover her." Austin ordered.

"Got it." Kraan nodded as he joined Ventra covering Leena.

Ventra meanwhile maneuverered the drone into position and it locked onto the incoming red Batarians. Almost immediately, it opened fire, forcing the attackers to scramble for cover.

Kraan meanwhile fired some rockets to join the incoming fire, only for them to suddenly be shot down by the mech's minigun.

"Okay, that was a bad idea." He said.

The mech scanned the area and quickly spotted it's targets, despite that they were hiding behind stuff.

"TARGETS IDENTIFIED!" it said as it fired again, forcing the Helldivers back into cover.

"Dash, you got this. That thing's slow. Once it clocks you, head south." Said Austin.

"Well... shit." Dash swore.

Unsure exactly how to get the mech's attention he simply jumped out and threw his arms wide open.

"Look at me! I'm a target!" he yelled.

The mech fired again and Dash almost immediately broke into a sprint.

"Shepard, you asshole!" he yelled as he ran right past the Commander.

To everyone's surprise, the mech then did something most unexpected. It seemed to somehow change as some of its limbs seemed to rotate and wheels then flipped out of hidden compartments. Putting itself on all fours, it then sped off after Dash.

"Four to go." Said Leena as she continued working on the warhead, despite the incoming fire that was often hitting the container while Kraan and Ventra returned fire.

"Hey Boss! This thing ain't so slow!" Dash yelled into his comm as the Mech gave chase.

"Dash, get it to the canal." Said Austin.

"I'm trying!"

* * *

Ventra and Kraan were managing to hold out rather well against these well-armed Batarians. It wasn't easy though. These Batarians seemed to fight a lot better than normal Batarians. They had better armour, better weapons, and even better training from the way they coordinated their attacks.

Ventra managed another head shot on another Batarian soldier as he temporarily

"Nice shot, Krogan." He said.

"You're not too bad yourself." Said Ventra.

* * *

"Where the fuck are you, Shep?!" Dash yelled as he kept running at full speed to avoid incoming fire from the mech, which was closing the gap between him and it. "God dammit, where are you?!"

The mech skidded to a halt and switched back to its upright position and once again fired at Dash. This time though, the shots came so close that he was forced to skid in order to avoid them.

"Shiiiiiit!"

Dash narrowly managed to grab onto something as he fell off the edge of the canal.

* * *

A stray shot suddenly hit the drone, causing it to spin out of control and crash.

"Drone's down!" said Ventra.

"How much longer, Quarian?!" Kraan yelled, narrowly avoiding a shot aimed at his head.

"Two left." Leena replied.

A sudden shot however suddenly hit Leena right in the head, causing her to fall.

"Leena!"

Fearing that the Quarian had just been killed, Ventra quickly ran up to her, taking cover behind the crate as he checked her pulse. To his relief, she was still alive. Her helmet had deflected the round, but it had failed to absorb the impact, which had thus knocked her unconscious.

 _"What just happened?"_ said Austin through the comm.

"Leena took a hit. She's out, but alive." Ventra replied.

 _"I don't care what you do, just wake her up. We need that warhead disarmed."_ Said Austin.

"Easier said that done." Said Ventra.

 _"Hold on. We're on our way."_ Said Alaara.

* * *

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Dash swore as the mech towered over him while he struggled to continue hanging on.

"TARGET ACQUIRED!" the mech said as it took aim.

Right as it was about to shoot however, a rocket suddenly hit the mech from behind causing it to topple over into the canal. The water mixing with the electrics caused the mech to short circuit and explode.

Worried at first who had made that shot and it it had been intended for the mech, Dash didn't yet try to pull himself up until he saw the familiar helmet of Austin appear over the edge and extended his hand out.

As the Helldiver commander pulled Dash up, the Scout noticed that he had a used rocket launcher in the other hand. It had been him who'd made the shot.

"That was too close." Austin sighed.

"Thanks, boss." Dash panted once both his feet were back on ground.

"Am I still an asshole?" Austin asked.

"Yes, Shepard. You're still an asshole for making me do that…" Dash replied. "…but thanks."

* * *

Alaara and Sandra soon joined the fight as they ran up to the fallen Leena while Kraan and Ventra continued covering them.

"Cover us. We'll take care of this." Said Alaara.

"You even know if this'll work?" Sandra asked as Alaara began charging up her biotics.

"No. I've only down it once, and that was during sex. I've no idea if she'll even feel this." Alaara replied.

Once she had charged up enough, Alaara then put her hands on Leena and literally sent a massive biotic surge through her entire body. Leena practically burst back up onto her feet the second Alaara stopped. She wobbled slightly as her mind and body struggled to overcome the shock and readapt to where she was and what had happened.

"Okay, that went better than I thought it would." Said Alaara, rather surprisingly.

"Where do you learn this stuff?" Sandra asked.

"You don't wanna know." Alaara simply replied.

"Actually, you're right. I don't."

For some reason, something about that hurt Alaara. She had more meant it as a simple teasing joke, but Alaara it seemed had taken it seriously.

Many thoughts began to race through the Asari's mind. Perhaps now she was realizing the truth that Sandra didn't like her. But why? As far as she could remember, she hadn't said or done anything to upset the human woman.

Then another thought occurred to her. Her obsession with sex. Maybe that was why. Was this why she'd never had a proper relationship before? Did this mean she would forever be alone, even without any true friends?

Alaara's thoughts though were interrupted by the more sudden incoming fire and she and the others went back into cover and covered Leena as she went back to disarming the warhead.

"One left! Just keep them off me a bit longer!" the Quarian yelled over the noise of shots hitting everywhere and gunfire all over the place.

For a moment, Ventra struggled to find an opening for him to get a shot at the Batarian firing at him. To his surprise though, the firing then stopped. Risking a glance from behind cover, he saw that Austin and Dash had re-joined the fight and were now flanking their attackers.

With the red Batarians boxed in, it was only a matter of time before all of them were dead.

"We good?" Austin asked as he and the others secured the area.

"Yep. Warhead's disarmed." Leena replied, finally standing back up.

"Who the hell were these guys? Those were not normal Batarians." Dash panted.

Austin walked up to one of the dead bodies and scanned the skull symbol it had on it's arm. They revealed a surprising result.

"Well, I'll be dammed."

"What is it?" Sandra asked.

"Their symbol is a perfect match for the Red Skulls." Austin replied.

"Seriously?" Sandra said in surprise. "I thought they were just a rumour, a story created the Batarians to keep us out of their territory."

Rumour was the Red Skulls where a special group of Batarians. Each one of them wore a suit of red armour that had been extensively modified. A few years or so ago, the Batarians had attempted to copy Helldiver technology so that they perhaps stood a better chance against their enemy.

Resources for the Batarians however where scarce, not to mention that it was impossible for them to get any Helldiver tech to reverse engineer since Helldiver armour always vaporized itself when it's user died.

Capturing Helldivers as prisoners never worked either as the armour could never be removed by hand and they had all sorts of defence mechanisms, the lockdown being the most hated.

Despite this though, the Batarian had eventually managed to make some armour that could in some way compete with a Helldiver. Although this had worried many Helldivers at first, those who had encountered them simply said that compared to their technology, the Batarian versions where nothing but cheap knock offs. In some ways, they were right. The Red Skulls, named mostly due to the colour of their armour, in truth only had enhanced strength and not many of the other features that Helldivers had. The suits where indeed cheap knock offs.

However, what the Red Skulls lacked in technology, they gained in their advanced training. Unlike the suits, their training did actually help them. It very easily rivalled that of a Helldiver's and enabled the Red Skulls to compete with the Helldivers not just on a physical level, but also a mental level as well. Up till now, they had only ever been thought to be stories in a vague attempt to intimidate the Helldivers.

But now it seemed the Skulls were real. All too real.

"The Arkanes aren't gonna be happy to hear about this." Austin sighed. "Still, at least we prevented this warhead from falling into Batarian hands."

"All in all, not a bad day." Said Sandra.

"Yeah. Not bad." Alaara sighed.

Back on Arkadia, mostly everyone had turned in for the night.

With Alpha having been deemed by the Arkanes as an official success, the squad all now lived together as room-mates. They're apartment like room was nothing particularly special, but it had all the essentials and was homely enough.

Alaara stood in the bathroom, dressed only in a simple bathrobe, gazing at her own reflection. She was still somewhat upset and hurt about what Sandra said.

She noticed that Austin was in the next room sat in one of the big chairs reading a magazine.

"Hey, Shepard?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Would you date me?"

"I'm sorry?" Austin asked, somewhat taken aback by the question.

Would you date me?" Alaara repeated, this time at a slower pace.

"You're asking me to date you?"

"No, stupid. I'm asking for your opinion. If you wanted to, would you date me?" said Alaara.

"Oh. Well, in that case, of course I would. Any man would be lucky to have you. I mean, you're stunning." Said Austin.

"Or woman." Alaara added.

"I do beg your pardon. I mean that as well." Austin said quickly.

"Even knowing about my condition?"

"What condition?"

"Oh, like you don't know!" said Alaara crossly.

"No seriously. What condition?" said Austin, his tone now turning to concern.

"I'm obsessed with sex." Alaara sighed.

For a moment, Austin simply stared at her. Alaara could tell he didn't believe her. She knew that look when she saw it.

"I'm not joking, Shepard. I really am." She said, turning her back to the human and looking out the window.

"I'm sorry… I didn't…" Austin tried to say.

"It's okay. It's not your fault." Alaara sighed.

"What's the matter?" Austin asked as he stood up and walked up to the Asari.

"It's just something Sandra said." Said Alaara, doing her best to not cry. Her eyes were already beginning to water.

"What did she say? Did she offend you?" Austin asked

"No, no, of course not. It's just… when I resuscitated Leena, she asked where I'd learned that biotic trick. I told her she didn't' want to know, but I meant it in a teasing sort of way. She just said "Actually, you're right. I don't." I know that's not an insult, but it did hurt a bit." "I guess I'm just being too sensitive. But I get the sense she doesn't like me. Am I really so annoying? Is this why I don't have a bond mate?" said Alaara.

"No. No, of course not. You don't have a bond mate because…" Austin said comfortingly. "I don't know why you don't have a bond mate. You should have a bond mate."

"Oh come on! I'm the only daughter of two Asari porn stars. I owe my obsession to them. And I was an accident!" Alaara nearly yelled.

At this, she practically burst into tears.

"Hey, hey, come here."

Austin gently pulled Alaara into a hug and she eventually hugged him back.

"I'm practically a whore already." Alaara sobbed into his shoulder.

"Now you listen me to me, Alaara. You are not a whore. You're not a stripper, you're not a slut, you're a beautiful Asari, you're a soldier, and you're my friend." Said Austin. "You are one of my favourite people, and the most beautiful Asari I've ever known… well, in real life that is."

"I'm the only Asari you've known." Said Alaara, her mood brightening a bit and a smile made its way onto her face.

"Thank you. That's nice." Austin laughed. "But listen, I'm sure Sandra didn't mean it in a way that she doesn't like you. If I recall she even said you were sexy."

"How did you know that?" Alaara asked.

"You're comms were stuck open, I heard everything. I'm sure Sandra does see you as a friend, she's just yet to get used to you properly. I mean we have only been working together for nearly a year and we still don't know that much about each other." Austin replied.

Alaara was starting to cheer up a bit now.

"Besides, you're willingness to sleep with anyone and also to not be afraid of showing your body to everyone is actually of big help to us. You can get intel in ways we can't." Austin continued. "Also, it makes you rather fun in some ways."

"Thanks, Shepard." Alaara smiled.

The two finally separated from their hug.

"You know, for a commanding officer, you're awfully friendly."

"You'd be surprised. Believe me." Austin smiled. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? If it helps, I can get Sandra to apologise to you."

"No, it's okay. You don't have to do that. You're right, I'm pretty sure she didn't mean it in a mean way. I just took it wrong." Said Alaara.

"If you're sure."

Austin went back to where he'd been sitting and went back to his magazine.

As Alaara turned to head for her room, she temporarily stopped.

"Did you really mean it though? You would date me?" she asked.

"I don't lie to my friends, Alaara." Austin replied.

"Well, then I'm honoured that you would. And to be fair, I'd date you too. You're a nice guy, you're handsome, and girl would be lucky to have you." Said Alaara.

Austin had to temporarily clear his throat after hearing that.

"In that case, I appreciate the thought." He finally managed to say.

"Thank for cheering me up."

"You're welcome."

As Alaara was about to disappear into her room, Austin suddenly spoke again.

"That errr, condition… It doesn't… apply to tonight, does it?" he asked.

"Are you trying to flirt with me, Commander Shepard?" Alaara asked, somewhat surprised.

"I'm just asking."

"You are, aren't you?!"

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"I promise you, I'm not."

Alaara soon started to feel very naughty. She decided to call Austin's bluff.

"Alright then, prove it." She said as she reached down for the belt on her robe.

"What are you doing?" Austin asked.

Before Austin could say anymore, Alaara shrugged her robe off completely, leaving her completely nude right in front of him.

"Just the sight of me naked is enough to drive someone to pounce in me. If you were serious about not trying to flirt with me, you can handle it." She smiled seductively.

"And what happens if I don't resist?" Austin asked.

"Well, then you'll find out just how… sexual I can really be." Said Alaara

It was awfully hard for Austin to tear his eyes away. Words alone could not express how beautiful Alaara was.

Despite the temptation, he turned back to his magazine, averting his gaze from the nude Asari.

"Alaara, I'm incapable of thinking about you that way." He said, trying to sound calm and relaxed, even though his heart was beating like mad. It wasn't made any easier by the fact that she's suddenly walked up behind him and rested her forearms on his shoulders.

"Don't you wanna have your first time with an Asari?" she asked seductively as one hand ruffled his short brown hair and the other stroked his beard.

"One day, yes. But I'd rather have it with one that won't cause to me to feel wrong about doing it." Austin replied, still keeping his eyes on his magazine, even though he could even feel the warmth of Alaara's large breasts touching the back of his head.

"Just one night?"

"You're not gonna change my mind."

Alaara then suddenly grabbed his face and kissed him hard on the lips. Despite this though, Austin refused to give in.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to work either… although it was a good kiss." He said.

Alaara simply smiled and let Austin go.

"You passed my test." She said as she walked back up to her robe and put it back on. "I'm impressed actually. Apart from Sandra, you're the only one who's been able to resist. You have quite a strong will, even for a human. I'm glad you're our leader."

"And I'm glad to be leading you." Austin smiled.

"Good night, Shepard." Said Alaara as she finally entered her room.

"Sleep well, Alaara."

As the door shut, Austin went back to his magazine. He was suddenly interrupted however by a figure stepping out of the shadows.

"I didn't mean to upset her." Said Sandra. "I'm just not… used to aliens."

Sandra walked up to the window and folder her arms. Austin at the same time put his magazine down and walked up next to her.

"Well, you're in the Helldivers, Sandra. And as far as I know, Alpha Squad is here to stay. You, me and the others are stuck together like it or not." He said. "And if we're going to survive, we need to work together, and trust each other."

Sandra sighed. She knew Austin was right. Being a Helldiver meant working with aliens. She should've known what she truly signed up for.

"I should apologise to her." She said.

"I actually agree." Said Austin.

"You did a good job talking to her."

"To me this squad is more than just soldiers. It'd be nice if we were all friends."

"Couldn't agree more." Sandra smiled, stretching her hand out. "Friends?"

"Friends." Austin smiled back as he shook her hand.

* * *

**I'm actually quite proud of that bit. It was nice to sort of show the start of Alpha bonding withe ach other, and also make hints of the imminent romance between Alaara and Sandra.**

**Some good news for the next chapter at least is that we now cross into Year 2, and that's when we start seeing a more significant part of Alpha's story. Previous chapters have just been a few significant missions, the next one however will be the start of a somewhat longer story. It'll also introduce a recurring villain. Those who have read my version of ME2 may even spot a little Easter egg. ;)**

**Until next time!**

**Could use a lot of support at this time, so please don't hesitate to review.**


	5. Chapter 5, The Helldiver Slayer

**I'm very pleased with this one. It took far less time, and I've been able to do it before I go away on holiday in two weeks. As before I will use the time away to continue writing. I'm told though that this time the place where my family and I are staying will have free WiFi, so I'll be able to stay connected.**

**Anyway, the chapter. This one has practically become a cameo galore chapter. Some characters we're already familiar with, and a few who will have a part to play in later years.**

**Plus, there's some nice character development I hope you enjoy and of course there's the ME2 easter egg I mentioned last time. I look forward to seeing who spots it. ;)**

**Enjoy! Chances are my next chapter won't be until after my holiday, so see you then!**

* * *

**YEAR 2, The Criminal Element**

**2174: 13 months after the battle of Elysium**

**13 Years Before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"And that arms deal was only the start. Not long after New Year's eve 2173, we were given a very special assignment. Things however went to hell very quickly. Not only that, but we also had our first encounter with an enemy that would soon lead us into something far worse."_

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**The Helldiver Slayer**

Sat all around a ring table with a holo map of the Terminus systems in the centre, sat The Termnius crime lords, the richest, most powerful and most dangerous criminals. Smuggling, theft, crime, drug trafficking, it was all controlled by them.

There were 8 of them, three humans, two Asari, a Batarian, a Salarian and a Vorcha. At the front of the others and sitting slightly higher was the head of the crime lords, the Kingpin.

He was a giant of a man. Dressed in a simple white suit, 40% fat, 60% muscle and bald, the mere presence of him meant business.

"International smuggling revenues are up 14%. Theft up 43%." He said. "Fellow crime lords, looks like we are set to have a most profitable year."

The others simply smiled and chuckled to one another. Only one however, a purple Asari dressed in a black and white outfit with the symbol of Omega on her back had a different attitude to this.

"So it would seem, for now. But what about the future?" Aria T'loak asked.

"The future?" the Kingpin asked, confusedly.

"Kingpin, how long do you expect all of this to go unnoticed?" Aria asked rhetorically. "True we have nothing to fear from the Citadel council. Even if they did know, they would never dare go after us in the Terminus systems."

"Then what have we to fear, T'loak?" the Kingpin asked, still questioning why Aria had any reason to be concerned.

"I think we all know the answer to that." Said Aria as she pressed a button on her desk. The holo map of the galaxy map then changed to show the symbol of the Helldivers.

"The Helldivers?" the Kingpin laughed, causing everyone else to laugh with him. "They're more worried about the Batarians, not to mention all the other things they concern themselves with."

"They're growing bolder, Kingpin. Recent intel is showing that they're activity in deeper parts of Terminus space is growing, as is their presence. They have also become aware of us. It is only a matter of time before they attempt to make a move. We'll lose all our territory, our businesses, everything, and soon, that's going to cost us all a lot of things far dearer." Said Aria seriously.

No one was laughing now. It seemed that now Aria had managed to get through to the others and they now shared her concern. The Kingpin's expression remained unchanged, but he could sense the concern in everyone now.

"Hate to say it, but I agree. If this continues, the crime cartel will lose respect for all of us." Said the Salarian.

"Not to mention that I hear rumours they planning right now to make move on us all. Especially you, Kingpin." The Vorcha snarled. "If we not act, all of this before nothing."

"At this rate, we'll have to go into hiding, all of us." Said the Batarian.

Murmurs of agreement followed from all the crime lords.

The Kingpin took a deep breath and stood up, causing a sudden silence as he rose from his chair and stood at his full height. He then turned his back to the others and gazed out of the window at the vast cityscape of Ilium.

There was a long pause before he finally spoke.

"Even so, I want them to make the first move. Not the other way around." He finally said.

"We just sit and do nothing?!" one of the human crime lords asked.

"No. If the Helldivers insist on forcing our hand, then we don't want to disappoint them." The Kingpin replied. He then walked back to his desk and pressed a button, opening a comm channel. "Get me the Helldiver Slayer."

* * *

New years day, 2174 is standard Earth years. It had been quite the party last night in Alpha apartment. It was any wonder how none of the squad had hangovers.

However it wasn't all song and dance. A few of Alpha had just woken up to a freezing cold apartment. Their heater had broken. Rather than instantly call maintenance though as other Helldivers did, Austin at least wanted them to see if they could fix the problems themselves first before calling for help. A habit he'd been taught by his mother and father ever since he was a child.

"So… cold." Sandra shivered as Austin put a blanket on her.

"Leena, any progress yet?" he asked, doing his best to not shiver. Cold worked better for him than heat, but at this sort of temperature… way too much.

There was a faint banging coming from within the vents as Leena crawled through. For a normal Quarian, this would be easy. For a large muscle bound Quarian like Leena however it was a painfully tight squeeze.

"Not yet." She grunted.

"Morning, everyone." Alex yawned as she came out of her own bedroom. "Why is it so cold in here?"

"The heater's broken. Leena's trying to fix it." Austin replied.

"Yeah. I'm crawling around in some damn tight vents. Even in this suit its freezing." Said Leena, her voice muffled and echoing slightly through the metal.

"Anything new from the Arkanes this morning? Kraan asked, somehow the only one unaffected by the cold.

"Not yet." Austin replied. "I expect there will be eventually though."

There was then a loud clang from within the vents quickly followed by a gentle hum and then finally everyone felt warm air in the room again.

"Right. Did that do it?" Leena groaned.

"Yep. Seems to be fixed." Austin replied.

"Good. Now how do I get out of here?"

The metal on each part of the vents distended slightly as Leena tried to move.

"Leena, be careful! That part looks loose!" Austin yelled.

"What?"

Too late. The metal came apart and Leena fell out, crashing right into the Christmas tree and taking down a few decorations at the same time.

"Did I break something?" Leena groaned as she picked herself up.

"Yeah." Austin sighed. It was a shame admittedly, that had been a nice tree.

"Well, we needed to take down those decorations eventually." Said Sandra.

Next Alaara exited her room. However, rather to everyone's embarrassment, she was once again completely nude.

"Morning, all." She said. She noticed however that everyone was giving her an odd stare. "What?"

"What have we talked about, Alaara?" Sandra asked in reminding manner.

Alaara then realized that she had nothing all.

"Oh. Sorry." She said. As she went back to her room, she noticed how Dash seemed to be staring lower than the others. "Dash, eyes up here!"

"So what do we do until we get a new mission?" Leena asked as she dusted herself off and sat down with the others.

"Just enjoy the time we have off, I guess." Said Alex.

"Calm, peaceful, tranquil… wake me when it's over." Kraan groaned.

"Or we could try to get to know one another better?" Austin suggested.

"How do you propose we do that?" Leena asked.

"Well, we all have our own little stories to tell." Austin replied.

"There's no story. Go ask the Quarian if you want a story." Said Kraan.

"The Quarian" has a name, Kraan." Said Leena crossly.

"Guys, come on. It's the start of a new year. What better way to start that new year than by… strengthening our friendship. We're stuck together as a squad and as roommates, we may as well to get to know one another better." Said Austin. "Take me for example, I'm a spacer kid. Grew up on ships my whole life, never staying in one place for too long."

"I thought you were Earthborn?" Sandra asked surprised.

"Common misconception actually." Austin corrected.

"Wasn't it lonely?" Alaara asked.

"It was a bit. Yeah. I was never around long enough to make any friends." Austin sighed. "I only had my sister."

"You have a sister?" Alex asked.

"Yeah." Austin replied as he activated his omni tool and brought up a photo of him and a red haired woman sat in front of a the view of a beach. "That's her, Sarah."

"Wow. She is beautiful." Said Sandra.

"Takes after her mother." Austin smiled.

"Mmmm. Pretty." Dash smiled suggestively.

Austin though gave Dash a very serious look. The scout quickly got the message.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"Hang on though. How does she have red hair if you and your parents have brown hair?" Alex asked.

"She dyed it red. She wanted red hair ever since she was a little girl." Austin explained.

"And you both grew up on starships?" Sandra asked.

"Yep. It wasn't all bad though. We got to see plenty of different sights." Said Austin.

"Why were you even on ships that much though?" Ventra asked who had just joined the group.

"My mother's in the alliance. She was XO when I was born, now she's Captain of her own ship." Austin explained.

"I thought your father was a Helldiver General?" said Alex.

"Errrr… he is." Said Austin, still a bit confused as to why the others didn't understand.

"But… how?" said Alex. "So let me get this straight. Your mother's in the Alliance, and your father's in the Helldivers."

"Yes?" Austin replied, still struggling to understand what all the confusion was about.

"Huh, I didn't think something like that was possible." Said Ventra.

"Thanks." Austin simply replied, unimpressed. "What about you, Sandra? What's your story?"

"Well, I **am** Earthborn. I grew up on the streets of Russia, learned to look out for myself." Said Sandra.

"No parents?" Alaara asked.

"My mother died in child birth unfortunately. She had a friend, but she had too many financial problems to look after me."

"Oh dear."

"Hold on though. You don't sound fully Russian though. Where's the partly American accent come from?" Dash asked.

"I'm getting to that." Said Sandra. "Some time later, when I was older I eventually ended up on the streets of New York and I stayed like that until I finally joined the Helldivers at 18."

"Not hearing much about your father, what about him?" Austin asked.

"Never knew him. From what my mother's friend told me, he left when he learned my mother was pregnant. Never made any effort to try and find me." Said Sandra.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Said Austin sympathetically.

"From what I was told though, he was a Helldiver. Somehow though, when I joined and tried to find him, I couldn't find his name in any records at all." Said Sandra. "My best guess is he simply lied about being a Helldiver."

"So is that why you're only half Russian, because your father was American?" Alex asked.

"Pretty much, yes."

"What's going on?" Alaara asked as she rejoined the others, now wearing a bathrobe. It did seem awfully loose though, and there was an undeniably occasional flash of one of her breasts.

"We're sharing stories with each other." Sandra replied.

"Oooohh. What sort of stories?" Alaara asked interestingly as she sat down with everyone. She had to temporarily snap Dash out of it when she noticed he was still staring.

"Just life stories. Nothing sexual." Sandra corrected her seriously.

"Aw!" Alaara sighed jokingly.

"Didn't you tell me you were the daughter of two Asari pornstars?" Austin asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, but… I'm not sure if I'm comfortable talking about that." Said Alaara hesitantly.

"We're not gonna judge you, Alaara." Said Sandra.

"Well, there's not much to tell." Said Alaara as she sat down with the others, quickly readjusting her robe so that a gap in it didn't show off her Azure. "My parents conceiving me wasn't too special, and was kind of an accident. They were doing a scene and since they were bondmates, they often used Unions to truly enhance the vids they made. But then one time they ended up going far deeper into the Union than they had before. My mother got pregnant with me, and so they were forced to temporarily stop their "business" while they raised me. They attempted to continue in secret, but I eventually found out. And… well…"

"What? Well what?" Dash asked keenly.

"They… err, they gave me a bit of… education on…" said Alaara, struggling to fin the correct words.

"They didn't!" Austin asked in shock.

"I'm afraid they did." Said Alaara.

"You… and your parents?!" Alex asked in shock.

"Nothing I'm proud of, but it did give me the skills and knowledge I've been able to put to good use as a Helldiver, so I won't hear a word said against it." Said Alaara.

"You're a little scary sometimes. Do you know that?" said Dash.

"You've no idea, boy." Alaara smiled naughtily. "Very few can use sex as a weapon, I'm one of them."

"So both your parents were Asari?" Sandra asked.

"Yes."

"Isn't there a word for that? Pureblood was it?" Dash asked.

The moment the word "Pureblood" left Dash lips however, Alaara suddenly threw a biotic warp at him that toppled him off his chair.

"Hey! What was that for?!" the scout yelled.

"Don't you ever call me that again! You understand?!" said Alaara crossly.

"Alright, alright! Sorry!" Dash apologised.

"You should know better than that Dash. If you'd listened in training, you'd know the term "Pureblood" is a cruel term, and Alaara certainly doesn't deserve to be called that." Said Austin supporting.

"Here, here." Sandra agreed.

"How about you, Leena? What's your story that led you here?" Austin asked.

"It's not a nice story." Leena replied.

"We're prepared for that."

"Okay. Well, like all Quarians, I grew up on the Migrant fleet. None of that was anything special to be honest until I met him." Said Sandra.

"Him?"

To everyone's surprise, Leena took out a locket out of a compartment on her suit. Inside it was the picture of a younger version of her and a male Quarian cuddling each other. Looking at Leena now, it was weird seeing her as thin in the picture.

"He was my boyfriend before he went on Pilgrimage. We had to go our separate ways when we went on Pilgrimage, but we still kept in contact." Said Leena, her tone changing to a slightly sad one as she looked at the picture herself.

"What happened to him?" Ventra asked.

"He'd found something first and returned from his Pilgrimage before me. While I was still searching for something, he later said something that hurt me. He told me that he was finding life on the Flotilla boring and useless and that he'd had decided to lend his skills to the Helldivers. He told me that we might not see each other again, but I refused to give up on him. Eventually I decided to give up on my pilgrimage and joined the Helldivers too." "Only… when I joined, I found out that he'd…. he'd been killed in action."

"Bozhe moy !" Sandra gasped.

"We never realized… Well, that does certainly explain a few things." Said Austin.

"Don't feel sorry for me. It made me stronger." Said Leena. "And as you've seen, I often channel the anger and rage of that in my fighting."

"Yeah. Remind me to never get on your bad side, unless I want to know what it feels like to have a Tomahawk in the head." Dash agreed.

"What about you, Dash?" Sandra asked.

"Hmmm… where to start? Well, I was born and raised on the colony of Mindoir." Said Dash.

"Oh."

"Yeah. I think you can probably guess what happened." Dash nodded. "I had to watch as my parents were killed. So you can probably imagine where my grudge against Batarians comes from."

"No kidding." Said Sandra.

"Nothing truly special after that to be honest. I joined the Helldivers when I was old enough, was in the same training unit as Sandra, and now here I am telling you all this now without breaking the fourth wall."

"I think we are curious about your… let's be honest, odd sense of humour." Said Austin.

"I don't know. I guess it's my way of maintaining some sort of control and remaining positive. I'm an optimist." Dash shrugged.

"Nothing wrong with that. I'm a bit of an optimist myself." Austin agreed.

"Okay, Ventra. Your turn." Said Dash.

"Well, I grew up on Palaven like every other Turian. I'd hoped to one day join the Turian military, and eventually I achieved that." Said the Turian.

"What made you change your mind though?" Alex asked.

"We got deployed to this jungle planet once for a recon mission. It didn't go well. A sudden Predator attack killed my entire squad and took me believing I was dead too. When I awoke, I managed to kill the creature, but I was all alone. I could get to a base, but it would take me some time. It was during that time on that planet all by myself that I learned to hunt, to truly kill, to stalk prey and above all learned how to use a bow and arrow. Without any other choice, I was forced to fashion one and I gradually homed my skills as I hunted to stay alive. When I returned to civilization however, the Turian military didn't have the same appeal I thought it had. After all, they wouldn't let me continue using the new weapon that I had mastered. But then I learned that the Helldivers had no such restrictions when it came to tactics and weapons. They used everything from modern day technology to old fashioned hand held weapons." Said Ventra. "That's pretty much how I ended up here."

"A survivor and a hunter. Impressive." Said Kraan, quite humble for him.

"When it comes to situations like this, you're left with the ultimate choice: Kill or be killed." Said Ventra. "Shepard will know this, he faced a similar situation on Akuze."

"Hmm." Austin simply nodded.

"How about you, Alex?" Sandra asked.

"There's nothing to tell really." Alex shrugged. "Dropship piloting runs in the family all the way back to my great grandfather who was a helicopter pilot dropping off human soldiers on recon and combat missions."

"Well, still. I'm sure you're ancestors would be rather proud of you following in their footsteps." Said Austin.

"Thank you, Shepard." Alex smiled.

"Kraan, you're the last one. How'd you end up here?" Sandra asked.

"There's not much to tell. Grew up on Tuchanka, originally was a Blood Pack member, found it boring and joined the Helldivers instead." Kraan simply replied.

"Wait, you used to be a Blood Pack member?!" Alaara asked.

"For a time, yes." Kraan replied.

"And you found it boring?" Ventra asked.

"Guess I'm more bloodthirsty than other Krogan. Plus, the food was terrible." Said Kraan.

"You have an odder appetite than other Krogan as well." Said Austin.

Although no one had made a very long conversation, it was still nice that everyone had been willing to share stories with each other. Austin especially was glad to see that although it was still rusty, it was nice that everyone was starting to forge a friendship with each other. He couldn't help but give a little smile at the thought.

There was a temporary peaceful silence before Alaara eventually broke it as she stood up.

"Well, if no one has got anything else planned, I think I'm gonna go take a long relaxing bath." She said.

After about 2 hours, Alaara finally came out. By now, some of the others had gotten to doing their own thing and so only Austin, Sandra and Alex were lifting in the living area while Dash was watching the holo TV.

"So, how was it?" Sandra asked.

"It was amazing! I feel all clean and relaxed. Thank you so much for telling me about human baths." Said Alaara happily.

"Anytime." Sandra smiled.

As Sandra got up and headed into her room, Alaara temporarily stood there as she continued staring at Sandra before finally taking the woman's place on the sofa next to Austin.

"How are you and Sandra getting along?" Austin asked.

"Not a bad friendship if I'm honest. Still a little bit rusty here and there though, but don't worry. I'll get her to warm up to me. If there's one thing I know... it's women and covert operations."

"Ummm... those are two things." Said Alex.

"Believe me: They're not." Alaara smiled.

The silence was then interrupted by a beeping from Austin's omni tool.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand, that would be our next assignment." Said Dash.

Putting down his magazine, Austin opened up the message from the Arkanes. Once he'd finished reading, he stood up and cleared his throat.

"Suit up Alpha, we're going after The Terminus Crime Lords!"

* * *

The still cold winter weather did make the conditions awfully windy and snowy. Alex was only just able to fly normally.

"So what do we know about these "Terminus Crime Lords" exactly?" Sandra asked as she checked her gear.

"They've been praying on the Terminus for a long time." Alaara explained. "Crime, Slavery, illegal weapons dealing, you name it, they're doing it. Eclipse especially have had a lot of deals with them in the past.

For a moment, Alaara's tone almost sounded like regret, but no one caught that.

"So what's the plan?" Dash asked.

"The one we're going after is Garth Kallun, he's pretty much the weapons dealer of the crime lords. Our mission to take him in alive so the Arkanes can interrogate him on the others. From there, we take the rest down one by one until only the Kingpin is left." Said Austin.

"Should be interesting." Said Kraan.

"The Arkane's contacts tell us he's got some goons doing a small arms deal nearby. Hopefully, we can make one of them tell us where he is." Said Sandra.

The dropship soon reached its destination and hovered just low enough that Alpha could jump out.

" _This is as close as I can get you, guys. Weather's starting to pick up."_ Said Alex.

"Alright. Alex, put her down here and keep the engines warm. We shan't be long." Said Austin.

Despite the snow and cold weather, Alpha soon found the destination.

"Time to disappear." Said Austin.

With their cloaks on, Alpha simply waited until the dealers arrived. One side Kallun's all human thugs, the other Eclipse mercs, all Asari.

Austin noticed that Alaara did seem somewhat uneasy at the moment. For what reason however, he didn't know. But that would have to be a conversation to wait for another time.

"Where's your boss?" the Asari asked.

"He couldn't make it. He sends his apologies." Said one of the thugs.

"As this is not our first time with these deals, I'll let that slide just this once. You have the weapon?"

The main thug nodded to one of the others who opened up the case to reveal the weapon inside.

"And the money?" he then asked.

One of the other Eclipse mercs opened her case, showing the money.

"Mr Kallun will be pleased, I'm sure."

Alpha meanwhile the whole time had been slowly getting into position to make their move.

" _Marking targets."_ Said Ventra through the comms as he and the others lined up sniper shots to take down all but one of the figures while Sandra snuck up on the one in charged.

" _Ready, Sandra?"_ Austin asked.

"Ready." Sandra replied.

" _On my mark. 3… 2… 1…"_

Every shot hit it's mark and all but the lead thug fell dead. Sandra quickly grabbed him and knocked him out with a single punch.

When the thug finally woke, to his horror, he found himself hanging upside-down from the very top of a building.

"Where's Kallun?!" Austin demanded as he swayed the thug a few times to show that he wasn't afraid to let go.

"I don't know! Please, let me go!" the thug begged.

Before Austin could threaten to drop him, he noticed the thug's omni tool flashing with a call.

"Seems we have what we want now." He said.

"No, please! Don't drop me! I'll tell you everything!" the thug nearly screamed in fear.

"Too late, mate." Said Austin.

Rather than drop him though, Austin instead threw him back onto the roof and Kraan immediately knocked him out again. Austin then scanned his omni tool and accessed the call the thug had missed.

"Sandra, can you trace this?" he asked.

"Just watch me." The Russian smiled.

Using her equipment, Sandra began tracing the call's source. Within just 1 minute, she had the source highlighted on a holo map.

"There he is." She said.

"The slums. No wonder we haven't found him sooner. Someone as rich as him, it's unexpected for him to be down there." Said Alaara.

"According to this, he's hosting a fight tournament tonight." Said Sandra.

"Well then, let's invite ourselves." Said Dash.

* * *

Getting there unnoticed was the trickiest part, but soon Alpha managed to reach their intended destination.

From the top of the rafters, hidden out of sight, the Helldivers observed the fights going on. Brutal to say theleast. Some of them even involved aliens against humans, those were the nastiest.

From up top on the higher ground was Kallun.

He looked fairly elderly compared to what had been said about the other crime lords. He was probably around his early 60's with white hair, a fair amount of wrinkles and a rather slim build.

"That the best you can do? You hit like a ponce!" he said as he observed the fight with everyone else.

"There he is." Said Austin, keeping his voice down.

One of Kallun's assistant then came up to him.

"Sir, the Helldiver Slayer has arrived."

"Excellent" Kallun smiled. "Have fun with the fights, boys. I have some business to attend to. Make sure I'm not disturbed."

With that, the crime lord disappeared into his office while the fights continued.

"Who's the Helldiver Slayer?" Dash asked.

"I've no idea. Never even heard that title before." Austin replied.

"Something we should be worried about?"

"Most likely it's just a name. There's no one in this universe that's killed more than two Helldivers and lived to tell about it. Whoever this Helldiver Slayer is, I'll bet he's just some fighter who brags a lot."

"Alright, Alpha. I think we've done enough sneaking." Said Austin.

Disengaging their cloaks, all of Alpha leapt down into the arena just as the fight ended and the winter stepped out. The crowd was mo0mentarily shocked into silence and then started to murmur to each other.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" said the announcer. "A team of Helldivers this far from Arkadia? I'd say they deserve a proper greeting, right lads?"

The rest of the crowd began cheering as a huge figure suddenly stepped into the spotlight and leapt over the railings into the arena.

"He's big." Said Dash.

The figure was clearly atop fighter due to his immense size, scars and damaged looking armour. It was logical assumption this was the so called Helldiver Slayer they'd heard about.

"I'm gonna enjoy this." He said, banging his fists together in an attempt to be intimidating. He then turned to the entire crowd "ARE YOU READY?!"

The rest of the crowd cheered as he readied for a fight. Now they were certain they didn't have to worry about the sudden appearance of these Helldivers.

So far though, Alpha weren't intimidated. They'd faced far worse than a pit fighter with a mouth who thought he was invincible.

"Tell me where your boss is and this won't get ugly." Austin demanded.

"I ain't here to talk, I'm here to kick your asses." Said the slayer as he waited for Alpha to make the first move.

"Last chance, mate." Austin warned.

"You're about to be taught a lesson in pain!"

The slayer then slammed his fist into the ground so much that it dented.

"Now, come and meet your fate!"

Austin simply shrugged. With a quick but at the same time casual move, he simply pulled out his pistol and shot the slayer in the chest. He fell to the ground almost instantly.

"You first."

The crowd's cheers went completely silent in shock.

"Hmm, so much for a Helldiver slayer." Said Alaara.

"Who wants to show us where your boss is?!" Austin yelled to the crowd.

"Don't just stand there, you idiots! Get down there!" the announcer yelled panicking.

The entire crowd leapt into the arena and began surrounding Alpha. They dared not attack yet though. They were obviously still in shock after Austin had just shot the slayer. They seemed especially scared of Kraan.

The Krogan of course could see this, and he quickly decided to use this to their advantage.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH!"

Almost immediately, everyone fled the arena in fright.

"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!"

"You incompetent morons! What the hell is the boss paying you for?!" the announcer yelled as he retreated to warn Kallun.

The moment the last person had fled the arena, Dash burst into laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I'm glad my suit recorded that! That was priceless!" he laughed.

"Nice job, Kraan. That nearly scared me too." Austin smiled proudly.

"I have my moments." The Krogan shrugged.

* * *

Having managed to intercept the announcer on his way to Kallun's office, Alpha now had the element of surprise.

As they observed from the shadows, they noticed that Kallun appeared to be interrogating someone. Their suit's database identified the prisoner as Thornton Arma, a struggling weapons manufacturer. His business had often been known for being in a somewhat heated rival with Kallun's.

Kallun slowly walked up to Thornton and suddenly hit him the face with his cane. In his other hand was what appeared to be a telescopic stun stick of some kind.

"Now you best listen, Arma. Because this is the last time I'll ask." He said. He then started pointing the stun stick at Thornton's face. "What are you gonna tell your company?"

"That we're getting out of the weapons business. I promise. I'll make 'em do it." Said Thornton.

"I see your lips flapping, birdy. But they ain't making the sound I wanna hear." Kallun laughed as he mockingly pocked Thornton several times with the stick.

Before he could do anything more however, it was suddenly shot out of his hands by a round. Kallun quickly spun round to the source to see Alpha uncloaking.

"Knock knock!" said Dash.

"Get them!" Kallun yelled.

His thugs quickly attacked. Unlike the ones in the arena these ones weren't afraid. The room quickly turned into a free for all fist fight. Despite this though, Alpha held their own and it only took a few punches to take the thugs down.

"Are you waiting for a personal invitation?! Punch 'em in the face!" Kallun yelled.

Alaara had a slightly harder time since she was fighting the most muscled one of the thugs and he was quite tough. Dodging under a heavy swing, Alaara felt her foot knock something. With little time to think as the thug swung again, Alaara quickly picked up the object which she found was Kallun's stun stick. Without hesitating she quickly hit the thug with it as many times as she could. The constant electrical surges and forcefulness of the hits eventually proved too much for the thug and he was quickly knocked out cold.

As she got her breath back, Alaara looked at the stick. It wasn't all that bad to be honest. It was telescopic, so it could be collapsed for easy carrying and it packed quite the punch in a fight. After all, she'd been in need of a melee weapon anyway.

"Hmmm. Not bad. I think I'll keep this." She said.

Soon the last thug fell, leaving just Kallun. Thornton had taken this opportunity to flee while he could. To be honest, that didn't really matter to Alpha. They were here for Kallun, not him.

"Now hold on! Hold on a bloody minute!" said Kallun.

Leena though suddenly grabbed him and threw him against a glass case causing it to crack.

"The rest of the crime lords, where are they?!" Austin demanded as Leena forced Kallun against the cracked glass.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I've never even done anything bad!" said Kallun.

This however was followed by Leena grabbing him, and hauling him up by the neck

"You want teeth?! We want answers!" Austin yelled as Leena added a punch to Kallun's face.

"Alright! Alright! I… I'll do as you say. Take me into custody… I'll gladly come quietly, just don't hurt me." Kallun choked.

"Who are the others crime lords, and where are they hiding?" Austin asked.

"They…"

But before Kallun could continue, Austin suddenly felt something attach to his foot. Before he could do anything, the Helldiver was instantly hauled off his feet by some sort of grappling line and pulled out of the door just as it closed.

"SHEPARD!" Alaara yelled as she and the others attempted to force the door open, but ti was sealed shut.

In the suddenness of the moment, Leena suddenly realised she'd let Kallun go and he had already made a break for the other door.

"He's running! Get him!" Alaara yelled.

Dash quickly gave chase, but despite this he just wasn't fast enough and Kallun managed to seal the door behind him.

"Fuck!" Dash swore as he skidded to a halt just before he hit the door.

"Kraan, break down that door!" Alaara ordered.

A simple head butt from the Krogan smashed the door off it's hinges. By now sadly, Kallun was inside the safehouse part of the building. No getting in there.

Sandra then noticed a glass window that overlooked the arena. They could see Austin as he appeared to be hanging upside down with the grapple line still attached to his foot.

"Over there!" she said.

The glass was strong for them to break so the best they could do was hope Austin could get himself out of this and hopefully handle whoever had done this. Another figure suddenly appeared and walked up to Austin, drawing a sword at the same time.

Austin however was quick to punch the figure away. He then drew his own sword and cut the line causing him to fall into the arena, rolling back onto his feet as he landed.

* * *

As Austin landed however he soon saw the attacker follow as it jumped into the arena after him.

" _What the hell?"_

The figure appeared to be dressed in some black robed armour. The armour parts however looked like they were… parts from a Helldiver's armour. Mostly it was just the black robe with armour plating around the gauntlets, some reinforcements on the bicep areas, large armour on the shoulders that stuck out a bit, body armour around the midsection and armour on the feet parts that weren't' hidden by the robe. In addition to that, the figure wore the upper part of a Helldiver helmet over where the eyes would be while a separate armour plate covered the mouth. A black hood over the helmet topped it all off. There was also a sniper strapped to his back, a pistol on his left hip and a SMG on his right while two swords were strapped to his hips, one on either side.

This now corrected Austin. That large figure from the arena had not been the Helldiver slayer. This bounty hunter in front of him was. Strange though. He'd never heard of this bounty hunter before, nor had anyone. Perhaps it was a criminal underworld thing. Regardless, this bounty hunter was here now, and Austin knew he had a fight on his hands. Most likely this one would not go down as easily.

Both opponents slowly stood and began to circle one another.

"It appears the game is over before it even begins." Said the Slayer, his voice deepened by the plate over his mouth, but undeniably male.

"I'm not playing games, bounty hunter." Said Austin.

"Good. I'd hate for you to go down quickly."

"Can't we just talk about this?" Austin asked.

"I'm not being paid to talk, Helldiver. I'm being paid to protect Kallun. Killing you will be a bonus." Said the Slayer.

"Well then I hope you're used to disappointment."

"I expect this will be the fight of your life. Enjoy your final moments." Said the Slayer as he drew a telescopic staff from his back and it unfolded.

He attacked first, forcing Austin to bring up both his arms to block the attack. He then followed it with his own counter attack. The Slayer just managed to push the staff upwards enough that it blocked Austin's fist. He then jumped back slightly to prepare for another swing.

* * *

"Who's that?" Alaara asked.

"A bounty hunter by the look of him." Said Ventra.

"Why does he look like a half completed Helldiver though?"

* * *

As Austin continued to block and counter attacks with his fists and arms, he was beginning to realise this Helldiver Slayer was not any typical bounty hunter after all. His speed, his ferocity and his fighting style was unlike those that other assassins and bounty hunters had. He definitely wasn't a Helldiver, but he moved and fought like one. The Helldiver pieces he wore as trophies and armour had obviously been taken from ones he'd managed to kill. Judging from the different part types he had, it looked as though he'd killed at least 5 Helldivers.

Very few could say that they had killed a Helldiver, but even fewer were lucky enough to say that they had killed more than one and had lived to tell about it. To kill 5 Helldivers and survive… that was enough to make you both feared and respected by Helldiver and criminal alike.

Austin's thoughts were brought back to the fight at hand when the Slayer made a long swing which he just managed to duck under. He then attacked back with an upward punch which the Slayer just avoided as he rolled to the side.

"No more!"

Before the Slayer could attack again though, Austin acted quickly. As if on instinct, and without even thinking if this could work, he pulled out the standard issue grapple gun that all Helldivers had for climbing and such and fired.

Much to both the Slayer's shock and surprise, the mechanical claw attached to his armour and locked. Not wanting to risk any exploits, Austin quickly acted on instinct and pulled. The Slayer staggered forward as he lost his balance and stumbled right into Austin's punch which knocked him backwards and off his feet. Austin then swung downwards on his midsection, causing him to smash into the ground hard with a loud clang.

"You'll regret that!" the Slayer growled as he rolled and leapt back onto his feet.

Austin however followed with two more punches. The Slayer managed another opening and attacked only for Austin to grab the staff and throw and kick the Slayer over him. However, the Slayer managed to land on his feet and quickly swung at Austin. The Helldiver unfortunately failed to react in time and the staff hit him right in the face, almost immediately disorienting him and causing him to fall to the floor, his vision blurring and his head throbbing like mad.

"You have skill, but lack experience." Said the slayer as he twirled the staff. He then stood over Austin, ready to deliver the final blow. "You got guts, kid. Too bad I gotta rip 'em out of ya."

Right as he raised and thrust however, Austin rolled out of the way. He attacked back with a punch, but the Slayer blocked it with his staff. He then swung one end at Austin's face, knocking him in the side of his helmet. With Austin temporarily disoriented again, the Slayer attempted a spinning attack. Just in time though, Austin regained his senses and managed to block the end of the staff being swung at him. He then pushed it away and at the same time punched the Slayer right in the back.

As the Slayer spun back round to face him, Austin aimed a kick which the Slayer blocked his staff. At the same time, he counter attack with another swing. This time though, Austin was ready for it. Grabbing the end with both hands, he then yanked it forwards and as the Slayer was pulled forward with it, he then smashed the staff right into his helmet with a loud bang of metal.

The Slayer backed away as he tried to regain his senses. When he finally did, Austin could tell he was cross with that.

"That was a mistake!"

He then threw a flashbang grenade at the floor which temporarily blinded Austin. The Slayer then suddenly leapt at him from another and began striking so fast that Austin was only just able to block each one using the small blades on his forearms. Sparks flew with each blocked strike.

He finally managed to grab hold of the staff and pin it down. Before the Slayer could do anything more, Austin then head butted him in the helmet and followed this with a series of quick and hard strikes.

"Come on, Shepard. Kick his ass." Dash cheered.

With the Slayer temporarily disoriented, Austin punched him two more times before finally doing a jump attack that has so much force in it that it smashed the Slayer's helmet and mouth plate right off.

"Oooh! That had to hurt." Said Sandra.

"Score 1 for Shepard!" said Dash.

* * *

When the Slayer turned back to face Austin however, a most surprising sight was revealed. Instead of the face of a man as had been expected, the Slayer's face… was a woman!

She had scars on her chin, forehead and right cheek, and a blue glowing cybernetic right eye. As it turned out, the deep voice from earlier was simply a voice changer. It was almost frightening though that someone like her was that big even without the robes and armour. She was almost as tough as Leena.

"Whoa! The bounty hunter's a chick?!" said Dash in shock. "Now I feel kinda bad for calling her a bitch."

This caught Austin off guard and he hesitated, giving the Slayer an opening. She swung her staff, hitting him right in the helmet and causing him to tumble to the floor, his head spinning and vision blurred.

"And yet another opportunity you failed to exploit." Said the Slayer, now using her natural voice as she lowered the tight hood she'd had around her head when wearing the helmet, letting her medium length jet black hair loose.

The fight continued with both opponents exchanging a blur of blows and counters.

"Your chance for a painless death is over!" the Slayer taunted, upping the speed and intensity of her attacks.

A sudden swift strike from the Slayer's staff knocked Austin in the side of the head. She then followed this with an upward strike which she quickly followed with a spinning downward attack. Austin was just able to sidestep the attack in time. The Slayer however quickly attacked again with another long swipe. Austin however ducked under the attack and then suddenly grabbed her. Despite the weight of her armour pieces, he was still able to lift her over his head and then threw her to the floor hard.

"Not such a pushover after all."

The Slayer once again threw another flashbang at the floor, temporarily blinding her opponent. She once again repeated her multiple attacks which Austin just managed to block. The speed at which this bounty hunter moved and moved was oddly familiar somehow, but Austin couldn't quite put his finger on it.

He finally managed to pint he staff down again and once again attacked with a series of quick and focused attacks. The Slayer managed an opening and attempted to bang the hilt of her staff into Austin's helmet, but he managed to grab it in both hands. Austin then kicked the Slayer hard in the stomach, causing her to stumble backwards and let go of the staff. Without even hesitating, Austin brought the staff down onto his knee and it smashed in two.

"Now she's screwed." Said Dash.

He spoke to soon though as the Slayer drew her dual swords.

"…Or not." The Scout added.

At the same time, Austin also drew Excalibur and the two went into battle stances as they circle one another.

"This should be interesting." Said Sandra.

"What do you mean?"

"Shepard doesn't just carry that sword because it looks cool."

"You are not gonna like what comes next." The Slayer taunted. "You prefer steel, or lead?"

Austin didn't reply and simply waited until she made the first move.

The Slayer attacked with just as much speed as her earlier attacks. This time though she could now attack twice as much due to her dual swords. As soon as Austin blocked one attack he had to almost instantly move to block the other.

As the second blade clashed against his own, he just managed to push against the Slayer before she suddenly spun and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to stumble back.

"Not bad, bounty hunter." He panted.

"You'll find I'm the best." The Slayer smiled, her cyborg eye glowing a bright but rather evil blue.

She attacked again, but Austin blocked both her attacks. His sword parried one to the side, while his arm parried the others. With both swords pinned either side, Austin suddenly headbutted the slayer using the flat part of his helmet. The Slayer staggered back, her head clearly spinning from that.

The fight continued for a long time with neither opponent appearing to have the upper hand. As they both used every trick and special move they knew, Austin was beginning to think that perhaps this bounty hunter had even studied how some of her Helldiver targets fought in order to learn their skills herself and use them against them before she killed them. No wonder her fighting style was so familiar.

Still, some of her moves did for some strange reason remind him of his mentor, General Zartrack. Some of her moves even appeared to mirror some moves he only taught to select students perfectly, and as far as Austin knew any students who did know those moves were still alive.

Finally, Austin managed an opening. With his blade pinning both the Slayer's he almost immediately thrust a punch forward with his other hand, catching her right in the jaw.

"A few tricks left, I see." She said as she leapt and once again threw another flashbang at the ground which once again blinded Austin for a third time.

" _What is it with bounty hunters and flashbang grenades?"_ Austin groaned in his head.

The Slayer once again leapt at Austin and attacked so fast she was practically a blur. Finally seizing an opening after blocking each one, Austin pinned her blades, heabutted her and then punched her multiple times with both his fist and the handle of his sword.

The Slayer though managed to break this and swung at him again. Her blade however ended up becoming wedged between the gap where Austin's arm blade and the wrist. Actign on instinct, Austin quickly pulled his arm aside so hard that it pulled the bounty hunter's sword out of her hand. Now with only one sword, the Slayer attempted a desperate attack, but Austin parried it and with a swift move of his arm he disarmed her. He finally finished this with a kick that sent her against the wall.

"It's over, bounty hunter." Austin panted, raising Excalibur and pointing it at her.

"Not by a long shot!"

The Slayer threw a smoke grenade at the floor. Blinded by the blast, Austin lost sight of her as she fled the area, taking her discarded and damaged equipment with her.

When the smoke finally cleared enough that Austin could see, she was gone. When his mind turned back to Kallun however…

A hologram of Kallun suddenly appeard on the screen overhead. He looked to be in the inside a ship now.

" _Nice seeing you, Helldivers."_ he taunted. _"Good luck trying to find me and the others after this."_

* * *

To say that Alpha were down after this was a mild understatement. This was probably the first time they'd failed, and on such an important mission too.

"I can't believe we screwed this up!" said Sandra. "We'll be dammed lucky if the Arkanes don't court martial us for this!"

"Everyone calm down! We're not getting disbanded for this. Both we and the Arkanes obviously underestimated these crime lords. It's hardly our faults!" said Austin.

"But still, what are we going to do now?! Every single one of those crime lords has gone into hiding." Said Ventra.

Before anyone could answer, Austin's omni tool bleeped. This was an actual call rather than another message. He quickly activated it. No one else could unfortunately hear what the caller was saying.

"Yes?" Said Austin.

There was a long pause.

"I understand, Councillor."

Austin's expression then suddenly changed to surprise.

"You're serious?" you're asked.

There was a another long pause before the Commander finally spoke again.

"Well, thank you very much, Councillor." He said. "Absolutely. I'll make sure we're all ready for this."

He ended the call and turned back to the others. He still looked as though he'd just received some good news.

"What was all that about?" Sandra asked.

"That was Councillor Spartan who just got out of a most interesting meeting with the rest of the Council… and one of the crime lords." Austin explained.

"WHAT?!" everyone practically said together.

"Apparently, one of the crime lords, some Asari named Aria T'loak, had a change of heart. She came to the Arkanes with a proposition. She'll gladly surrender vital info on all the other crime lords. Where they're hiding and how to find them. In return she gets pardoned and diplomatic immunity." Austin explained.

"And the Arkanes accepted?" Leena asked in surprise.

"It was probably the best and only opportunity we'll have. Without it, we may never have any other options of finding the crime lords." Said Austin. "And that's all. They're sending us back out to finish this. Hunt down all the crime lords, take them down one by one until only the Kingpin himself is left. And I'm also told… we won't be alone in this hunt."

At that moment, the door opened and another Helldiver walked in. Alpha only had to take one look at her to be surprised. They knew who this was.

"Wènhòu, ā'ěrfǎ xiǎoduì." She said in Chinese. "I am Xhi Shang Ren, but you may call me Xun."

* * *

Aria T'loak sat in her throne in the Nightclub Afterlife on the asteroid she ruled over, Omega. All around her were various Asari dancers while loud club music bellowed from the speakers.

Her recent… defection from the crime lords surprisingly did not have her as worried as she normally would be in this situation. She'd just betrayed them all to the Arkanes and the Helldivers. She knew that they never gave up and if there was one thing they definitely were, it was persistent.

Nevertheless, Aria wasn't popping the cork just yet. Hundreds of years of experience had taught her to be cautious.

One of her dancers, an Asari with white tattoos from practically head to toe slowly walked up to her.

"My Queen, the Krogan has arrived." she said.

"Excellent." Said Aria as she sat up.

The large Krogan Bounty hunter slowly stepped up to her podium until he stood in front of her, looking down as she remained seated.

The Krogan was Urdnot Thrax, one of the most ruthless and respected bounty hunters in the galaxy. Though not necessarily known as the best, he was known for this relentlessness, toughness, reputation for surviving events that would kill any other and his results.

"Never been summoned by the great Aria T'loak before." He said impressively as he admired Afterlife. "You must really want someone dead."

"That would be one way of putting it." Said Aria. "I've betrayed the other crime lords to the Helldivers. They plan to take all of them down, including the Kingpin. But I'd rather he was taken down on my terms. Simple contract, I want you to find him and kill him. As for the money, let's say I'm willing to pay you whatever it takes."

"200 million." Thrax eventually said.

There was a temporary pause. Even for Aria, that was an awful lot of credits. She'd be very lucky that didn't bankrupt her. Still, she was desperate. There was every chance that the Helldivers the Arkanes sent after the Crime Lords might fail. With them out of the way, the others would soon learn of her betrayal and there would almost certainly be repercussions. Situations like these made her very desperate.

"If that is what will get you to accept, 200 million it shall be." She finally said, doing her best not to sigh as she said it.

"Then we have a deal." Thrax nodded as he turned to leave.

"Oh, and I should warn you, a team of Helldivers is after him too. So you're probably going to have some competition." Aria quickly added.

"They get in my way, I'll crush 'em under my foot." Thrax simply said.

* * *

The Kingpin stood in his large office, overlooking the vista of Illium. He soon heard he footsteps of his

"What is it?" he said.

"Have you seen the news? Somebody talked."

The Kingpin simply smiled.

"Somebody always does."

* * *

**You can probably guess what inspired this chapter. ;)**

**You can also expect the Slayer to show up a lot more. She'll play an important part in things yet to come.  
**

**As I said before, will be off on holiday in two weeks so next chapter won't be until after that.**

**Until next time. Leave reviews! :)**


	6. Chapter 6, The Azure Angel

**Hello, everyone!**

**I'm back from my holiday and I've also just started my new College Course.**

**Right, we have the first Crime lord take-down in this chapter, and... Shepard's "first time"**

**Even included something I think you'll recognize later on. Two things in fact.**

**Hope you enjoy. :)**

* * *

**YEAR 2, The Criminal Element**

**2174: 15 months after the battle of Elysium**

**13 Years Before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"So there we were. Now we were on a mission to take down all the crime lords. And unknown to us also, we were forging a new friendship with this Chinese Helldiver we'd just met."_

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**The Azure Angel**

The atmosphere inside the dropship was silent for a while. The presence of Chinese information broker and Helldiver Xun did make some of Alpha a little nervous. They'd heard many stories about her, both about what she was capable of and how she fought in combat.

Zhi Shang Ren had been an information broker long before she ever became acquainted with the Helldivers. She hadn't been desperate for money or anything like that, she was simply trying to make her way in the galaxy. Things had changed however when she came across some leaked information involving a Batarian slave trade that could risk compromising the operation if it fell into certain hands like the Helldivers'. The information also contained the Batarian's plans to attack a critical Helldiver base.

Zhi had originally planned to simply sell it back to the Batarians. The war between the Helldivers and the Batarian slavers wasn't of any concern to her after all and the Batarians were willing to offer an incredibly substantial amount for the information's safe return.

The information broker had been curious however and so she analysed the data in slightly more detail. What she found made her change he mind about the deal almost instantly. The fact that the Batarians were enslaving innocent human colonists made the Chinese Helldiver physically sick that she was even considering making a deal about giving the data back.

With a quick change of heart, she handed the data over to the Helldivers. That quickly became the start for Xun's many dealings with them and even the Arkanes themselves. And eventually this partnership reached the point where she was given an offer she couldn't refuse. They wanted her to become their own personal information broker.

The young information broker accepted and she didn't disappoint. She was even soon given her own set of Helldiver armour as a reward for such great service. Said armour was even still being worn as all of Alpha listened keenly to this story.

Unlike other Helldivers, Xun always kept her armour clean and in perfect condition, which meant it didn't have any paint chips or scratches and was also a very shiny silver. Her armour was also more curved rather than the straight and angular design of other Helldivers.

At the same time, her armour was also designed to look like a combination between a business dress of this age and a trench coat since she had long battle dresses at the back that extended all the way down to her ankles.

Styling wise, Xun also had a few Chinese tattoos decorated over her armour, a large Chinese Dragon tattoo going all along her back and left arm and Chinese symbols engraved on her helmet. Her katana was currently sheathed behind her back on her belt while a metal fan was also strapped to her side. Alpha still had yet to know why Xun had this, but given that ti was metal they did reckon it probably wasn't for show and tell.

"So what are we hoping to find here?" Dash asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Not sure yet. We have rough intel, but it'll be up to us to narrow things down." Xun simply replied.

"Any idea how we do that?" Sandra asked.

"We go around and learn what we can without attracting too much attention." Said Xun. "That means no explosions or guns."

Their target was the Salarian member of the crime lords, Traxus Koran. He was well known for organizing much of the entertainment in this region of Terminus space. Everything from strip clubs, to bars and even art shows. Some of the so called "entertainment" was also illegal. Getting to him would not be easy, especially when he owned a lot of hired muscle.

"We'll attract less attention if we split up. Sandra, you go with Alaara. Someone's gotta keep her out of trouble." Said Austin.

"Hey!"

"Ventra, you go with Leena. And Dash, you'll go with Kraan."

The Krogan gave a slight groan of frustration. Dash did sometimes prove to be a bit of an annoyance to him. Still, Shepard was his Commander and he knew better than to disobey him.

"What about you and Xun?" Sandra asked.

"I work better on my own." Xun simply replied.

"Same." Austin added.

The dropship finally touched down and the doors opened, revealing the bright sunlight of the city planet, Toravan.

Unlike Illium, Toravan was less beautiful and elegant in its design. A lot of it looked like city infrastructure and it had a very dark and dirty feel. Almost like something out of a film like Dark City or Batman Begins. Unless you were a Helldiver or a trained soldier, or even a guy with a lot of muscle, you did not want to be on these streets alone at night. That being said though, day wasn't any safer either.

Alpha separated into their separate groups and Austin instructed them to meet back here in a few hours.

Given that Traxus controlled most of the entertainment, Austin decided to stick to any areas that might have a bar or night club.

Austin did have to admit, even though he was just one Helldiver he was still getting a fair amount of stares from everyone. Helldivers very rarely came here and they had a bit of a reputation in Terminus space for being trouble.

Worse still, the Crime Lords had put a price on their heads. Being out in the open like this made him and the others potential targets for other assassins and bounty hunters, especially the Helldiver Slayer. So far Alpha hadn't yet crossed paths with her again, but they reckoned they hadn't seen the last of her.

As Austin debated on were a good place might be to try and ask questions, his suit's HUD suddenly lit up.

"WARNING! Potential threats detected." His suits computer said.

The HUD highlighted two large thugs in the crowd who'd noticed him. The database recognized them as employers of Koran.

As the thugs began slowly making their way in his direction, Austin quickened his step. He then spotted a dark alley. Perfect.

Quikly rounding the corner, he temporarily vanished from the thugs sight. When they caught up, all they could see was the empty alley.

"Where'd he go?" one of them asked.

A sudden tap on both their shoulders made them turn around only to see Austin uncloak right in front of them and knock them both out with a punch each.

"All brawn, no brains." He said smugly.

Feeling it best to not simply leave the bodies there, he hid them both in a dumpster. No doubt it wouldn't be the best thing to wake up to, but that wasn't Austin's concern.

Just as he was about to leave however, he was stopped when he noticed a sign for what was undeniably a strip club as it advertised a special Asari performer called the Azure Angel. This got the Helldiver thinking.

"Hmm. There's bound to be some dancers who know a few things. I'll just have to pull out my charms… big time." He said to himself.

Given how he'd already attracted some unwanted attention, he decided to take a little risk.

"Retract." He said.

Piece by piece, his armour shifted and opened up allowing him to step out. Now in just his suit mesh, he quickly went back to the dumpster and managed to steal some of the thugs clothes to wear over his suit mesh. He was just lucky enough that he was big enough for the clothes to fit him. With his thick muscles and scars as well, they gave him a tough look that would hopefully allow him to be but a blade in the crowd.

Taking a deep breath, he walked in.

* * *

The dark lighting and loud music was an experience Austin wasn't used to. Arkadia did have a few places like this, but in that one the dancers always had outfits, even if they were revealing. In this place however, the dancers had far less clothing and were quick to rip it off for the audiences. The Asari ones especially were getting the most. Even Austin was finding it hard to keep his eyes off them. One or two put even Alaara to shame, especially considering that Austin and the others had seen her nude quite a few times.

As he looked for a good place to sit where he would be relatively unnoticed, he suddenly noticed the Asari performing on the main stage. She was different from all the others.

The Azure Angel.

Austin had heard about her. Apparently her performances were unique because she used her biotics to enhance her performances. She wore nothing but several long pieces of cloth that were constantly manipulated by her biotics to cover her and at the same time weave around her like a living creature. Even when she did finally go naked, the pieces of cloth would still float around her. It was quite the show to watch. It was this performance that had earned her the stage name, The Azure Angel.

As he watched the dancer, there was something about her that Austin found rather compelling. While the large crowds around the stage cheered her on, the Asari continued using her biotics to manipulate the pieces of cloth flowing around her body, still covering her private areas as she danced. A few times she even teased a few lucky crowd members by having the pieces brush or touch them in a seductive way. She even did it herself with her own hands for a few **very** lucky people. Austin himself had managed to get to the front and was lucky enough to see the Asari up close as she temporarily danced right in front of him and touched one of his muscled arms before blowing him a kiss.

"Lucky devil." he heard someone next to him mutter.

For some reason, The Azure Angel seemed to still be staring at him as she danced. Her stare was almost hypnotic. That combined with her dancing was almost enough to put Austin in a trance. As the Azure Angel kept dancing, she started to manipulate the pieces of cloth a lot more. Her movements became faster and full of energy. She started to dance even more vigorously. Finally she decided that she'd teased her audience long enough.

As the crowd clapped and cheered for her to take the pieces off, she very slowly took ahold of the pieces covering her breasts and ever so slowly, peeled them off. The crowd cheered even more as the Asari's breasts were finally revealed. Even Austin couldn't help but clap. Judging by how large her breasts were, Austin guessed she was at least a couple of decades older than Alaara, who was roughly in her threehundreds.

Once again, as the Asari began giving a few lucky audience members some close ups of her body, she once again came to Austin.

"You're new here, aren't you? I can always tell." She said. "You here on business, or just here to unwind?"

"That depends, I guess." Austin replied. "Officially, I'm here on business, but nothing saying I can't enjoy myself a bit."

"Well in that case, I'll try not to disappoint." The Asari smiled as she resumed her dancing.

Austin was almost hypnotised now by the way the Asari was moving. It was like watching a creature swimming in water. The Asari seemed to dance like fluid floating in gravity, unrestricted and completely free in her movements. Austin was pretty sure now that she seemed to be keeping her eyes on him now, she nearly always seemed to do her very best moves in his direction and her gaze nearly fell to him all the time.

Finally, the last piece of cloth that covered her azure was moved away, now she stood on the stage completely nude as the cloth pieces floated around her in an almost magical way. She gave plenty of views of everything for her audience, but undeniably, Austin got the best views.

Finally, Austin decided that such a show should not go unrewarded. Not knowing how much a good tip for a stripper in terminus space was however, he accidently ended up giving her more than she usually got.

"For that, baby, you get a private dance." She smiled.

This took Austin by surprise. He certainly hadn't expected her to say that, especially since he hadn't expected a big performer like her to offer private dances.

As The Azure Angel finished her dance, the cloud cheered and clapped. Even as she left the stage with Austin in hand, they still applauded. Austin felt it best not to acknowledge that though and simply ignored it. What confused him though was when she lead him outside, and after she'd finished dressing.

"Were are we going?" he asked. "I thought you said private dance."

"I just said that so everyone else wouldn't get too jealous. You're getting something way better than dance, sweetie. There's something about you that I like." The Asari smiled.

"What about your shift?" Austin asked.

"It's taken care of." The Asari replied. "Come on, I promise you won't regret it."

Austin considered his options for a moment. He could either decline and just let her keep the money, which would then allow him to get back to work, or he could accept this most gracious offer. At the same time, he could still maybe find some information. This special dancer was bound to know something. Besides, she'd be his first Asari. Now that he thought about it, it seemed stupid that he was even considering it. Anyone else would just accept on the spot.

Austin cleared his throat.

"Lead the way then."

* * *

The Asari lead Austin back to her apartment, which mercifully wasn't anywhere near Traxus. Going near the crime lord without any amour or weapons and with no squad mates would be suicidal.

The apartment was very large and well decorated, obviously due to the dancers work. A massive view of the city could be seen from out of the massive window.

"So, what do I call you? I'm guessing your real name isn't Azure Angel." Austin asked as he admired the place.

"Nyarra." The Asari replied as she locked the door.

"Okay then, Nyarra." Said Austin. "So, do you really like me, or do you treat all your customers like this?"

"Never been with a Helldiver before. Plus, I'll bet you've never been with an Asari yet, have you?" The Asari asked.

For a moment, Austin froze. Had he just heard right?

"How did you know that?" he asked suspiciously, desperately trying to think of something he could use to defend himself.

"I saw you deal with those two thugs outside the club." The Asari replied. "Don't worry. I mean you no harm. Besides, there was a certain aura about you as well. I guessed from the start you definitely were a soldier of some kind."

"You're good." Said Asustin.

"You've no idea how good yet, Mr...?"

"Shepard. Commander. Shepard."

"A Commander? Not bad. I like someone who has power."

"Do you now?"

"Oh yes. Now, why don't you get yourself comfortable? I'll just go and freshen up."

Austin simply nodded while Nyarra disappeared into the bathroom.

Austin removed everything except his boxers and sat on the bed as he waited for Nyarra. Within just a few moments, the bathroom door opened. Nyarra stepped out in nothing but white stockings and a bra. Very quickly she dimmed the lights.

As she slowly walked up to Austin, she took a moment to admire his muscled chest and arms.

"Not bad at all. Most human guys I've been with are either skin and bones or big fat guys. Nice to finally have a strong man."

"I'm flattered." Austin said bashfully.

Nyarra then gently pushed him down until he was lying on the bed.

"Now just lye back and let momma do all the work." She smiled seductively.

Very slowly, she reached up and gently peeled his boxers off, letting his currently half erect shaft pop out. Despite not being fully erect yet, his size still seemed large enough to impress her.

"Goddess! What've you been feeding this thing?"

"Blondes." Austin replied slyly.

Nyarra smiled. She then gently took it in her hand and started stroking it.

"So… what should I do first?" she asked seductively. "What do you think? This is your night after all, and tonight I'm all yours."

"Well, since you ask, I'm happy to watch you slowly take all that off." Said Austin. "The outfit's really sexy, but I always like completely nude women when it comes to this sort of thing."

"If that's what you want."

Nyarra stood up and began to very slowly undo her bra first as Austin took his cock in his hand and started slowly stroking it while he watched. Nyarra let the bra gently fall from her body, once again showing off her large breasts. Unlike last time however, this time she took her tits in her hands and started to massage them and tease her nipples in a seductive way. Austin quickly felt himself starting to get very hard as he watched. Next Nyarra lifted one of her legs up and propped her foot up next to him. She undid the claps on the first stocking at a painfully slow rate. Austin continued watching as Nyarra slowly peeled the stocking off until she exposed her bare leg.

"You can touch me as much as you want, you know." She said. "We're not in a club anymore."

With his free hand, Austin reached up and touched her leg. Although he'd felt the touch of Alaara's skin before when she'd tried to seduce him, actually touching an Asari's skin himself was very different. Nyarra almost felt exactly the same as a human female skin felt. So soft and smooth and warm. The blue though was a nice difference. The Asari's skin had a certain texture too it also. Regardless though, Austin was definitely turned on by this.

"You feel nice."

Nyarra simply smiled and put her foot back on the floor. For the other leg she tried something a little different. This time she instead put her foot on Austin's chest and pushed him down onto his back. Austin couldn't help but like the dominance as he watched Nyarra stand over him while she peeled off the other stocking.

Finally she peeled off the last bit and threw it too him. Now she stood before him, completely nude. After that, Austin's cock finally reached it's full 10 inches at the sigh of the nude Asari standing right before him and ready to have sex with him.

"You're a big boy." Nyarra smiled. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

"Not as much as I'm going to." Austin smiled back. "You know what they say, you never forget your first time."

"Well then I guarantee I'll make this memorable for you."

With Austin already on his back, Nyarra slowly walked up to the bed and as she climbed on, platning kisses on him as she made her way up. She paused when she reached his cock. She stayed there and began planting loads of kisses and even a lick as she knelt down on the bed on top and took his cock in her hand again.

Austin gave a pleasured moan as he felt her tongue lick up his shaft. Then she took it into her mouth and began to bob her head up and down as she sucked. Nyarra started out slow and tender and made her licks very slowly. Austin gave a calm and pleasurable moan every so often as he laid his head back and relaxed.

Gradually, Nyarra then began to increase the speed. Her head then began to bob up and down much more as she sucked hard on Austin's penis. Already this was proving a lot for Austin. Her tongue was more skilled than any other tongue he'd had touch his shaft and she undoubtedly had a lot of experience with sort of this thing.

After only a few minutes, Austin soon felt his cum fast approaching. Nyarra felt it too as she noticed his balls tense up. Within just a few seconds, Austin couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Oh fuuuuuuuck!"

Nyarra took Austin all 10 inches of his cock to the way to the back of her throat as she felt the cum explode from Austin's cock, shooting first into her mouth and onto her tongue, then down her throat as she swallowed huge amounts. With the amount that Austin was unloading she was kind of force too otherwise it would prove too much more than her mouth could hold. How much ejaculate did this human have? She knew he was big, but perhaps she had underestimated just how big.

Finally, just when it looked like Nyarra's cheeks would burst from the amount of cum she was taking into her mouth, after 1 solid minute, Austin finally stopped and his cock began to slowly soften.

When she finally swallowed the last of the Helldiver's cum, Nyarra let Austin's cock pop out of her mouth. The two panted heavily as they got their breath back. So far they were off to a good start.

"I assume that's not it? Because I am definitely up for more if you are." Nyarra finally said as she touched her now wet pussy.

"You bet I am." Austin smiled.

Nyarra resumed her journey upwards and resumed her kisses, pausing very quickly to give Austin's penis one final long lick. She then placed it between her breasts and gently squeezed them together and began to pump herself up and down.

Austin began to moan again as he not only felt the soft skin of Nyarra's tits touching his cock, but also the fact that he could actually see it happening, he could see the head of his shaft appearing and disappearing between the two blue jugs.

"You like your cock between my big titties?!" Nyarra asked teasingly.

"Your tits are the best." Said Austin as he then started to thrust his hips in time with her movements. To help, Nyarra spat on his cock to provide a bit of lubricant as the moved in time with each other.

When it looked like Austin might cum again however, Nyarra suddenly surprised him by completely stopping her treatment. Now she started planting kisses on his abdomen as she worked her way up. She even gave a kiss and lick on each individual muscle of his well toned and firm six pack. She continued upwards until she reached his chest. Surprisingly, she paid even more attention to Austin's pecks. On one she even gave a long lick a playfully gentle bite.

"So much muscle. I could just grope you all night." She panted arousingly.

I could say the same of your tits." Austin smiled as he gave both Nyarra's large tits a firm squeeze.

The Asari moaned in pleasure and actually closed her eyes as she enjoyed the firm massage on her chest as Austin tweaked her nipples.

For a long time, the two simply stared into each others eyes as they panted with arousal. Finally, Nyarra broke the silence.

"Kiss me." She whispered.

The two grabbed each other and pulled themselves into a deep kiss. Austin felt Nyarra's tongue force it's way into his mouth. All the while, the Asari's hand snaked its way back down his body until she touched his cock and again and stroked it again, bringing it back to full hardness.

"I want you inside me!" Nyarra moaned in-between kisses. "Fuck me, human! Make me yours!"

Austin immediately complied and lined his cock up with her dripping azure. Nyarra then slammed herself down onto his cock and began to bounce on him as his shaft moved in and out of her.

For Austin, this was a completely new experience. This being his first time with an Asari, he'd only presumed what to expect. He'd only imagined that Asari felt the same as human women did, but he was wrong. Whether it was because Nyarra had had sex with many others before him or simply that all Asari felt like this, he did not know. But what he did know right now was that Nyarra's azure felt unbelievable. It was a feeling that could not be described easily with words. It was leaving Austin in such ecstasy that he was perfectly happy to let Nyarra be the dominant one in this, because right now she was overloading his senses with a pleasure greater than any he'd felt before.

"Oh your cock feels so good inside of me!" Nyarra moaned as Austin gazed up at her large tits bouncing up and down so close to his face.

Nyarra seemed to notice this and she took both his hands and placed them on her breasts.

"You like my tits bouncing up and down?!" she asked.

Austin was still in so much ecstasy that he almost found it hard to think or even speak, and ultimately resorted to simply nodding.

"Suck 'em!" Nyarra commanded.

"Sorry?"

"Suck my tits, Shepard!" Nyarra repeated as she leaned in close to him so that her nipples were now barely touching his lips.

Unable to resist the teasing this Asari was giving him, Austin latched his mouth onto one of her nipples and began to suck, electing a pleasured moan from Nyarra.

The Asari licked her lips slowly as she ruffled the Helldiver's brown hair while she enjoyed the sucking. She rubbed her hair through her fingers

"You like mommy's tits?" she said, riding him hard. "Put your hand on Mama's ass!"

One of Austin's hands immediately slid down Nyarra's back and grabbed her ass spreading the cheeks. He then went one step further and pushed a finger deep into her asshole.

What happened next however came as a bit of a shock to Austin. He was surprised to feel warm breast milk flowing into his mouth. Nyarra's moans grew even louder as she kept riding him and took her other breast and sucked it herself. She licked her lips and kissed him.

"Tasty isn't it baby? Nice and sweet for cute guys just like you." she said, grabbing his face and pushing it deeper. "Yes suck me like that that! Feels so good!"

Austin continued thrusting while sucking on Nyarra's breasts. He then flipped them so that he now lay on top of her. This time Nyarra recived more of the pleasure, causing the Asari to lay back and moan exoticaly into his ear.

They continued like this for several long minutes before Austin could finally feel another iminant orgasm. Nyarra felt it too though.

"Cum inside me, baby… I want more…more of your cum" She Said. She felt him shake as he started to cum. He was practically filling her. She even worried that he might fill her up to the point of her stomach distendeding, but fortuantely that didn't happen.

Finally, Austins hot his last load and rolled offf of Nyarra, the two panted heavily almost out of breath.

"That was amazing!" Austin panted.

" **You** were amazing." Said Nyarra. "How can I ever repay you?"

"You don't have to repay me." Said Austin.

He then noticed that Nyarra was sat up and looking somewhat sad.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"That's probably the only time my body's been used like that and I've enjoyed it." Nyarra sighed.

"Why do this then if you hate it?" said Austin.

"Traxus Koran owns me. If I dare quit he'll have me raped and tortured into submission." Nyarra explained. "I don't mind the dancing bit at all, I love that. But my contract requires me to be used for sex as well from time to time. That's the bit I hate. I took this job to be a dancer, not a hooker."

"Wait! Did you say Traxus Koran?" Austin asked with surprise.

"Yeah. He pretty much owns anything entertainment based on this world."

A plan began forming in Austin's mind almost immediately.

"You asked how you could repay me. What if I told you I might be able to correct your contract for you? What would you be willing to do for that?" he asked.

"Anything." Nyarra replied,.

"Well, in that case. I think we can help each other."

* * *

The plan was set. Tonight there would be an opening for Traxus' recent art gallery which he himself had made. Nyarra naturally would be performing there, so she'd be able to really keep an eye on things.

The plan was for one of Alpha to head to the event alone while the others watched from afar to ambush the Salarian. For a time it had been a difficult choice for Austin to decide which one he should pick.

Finally though he felt that Sandra would be the best choice. Being a comm. Expert she could jamm communications if need be, create distractions and even hack into enemy comms to listen to them. That would work both ways in case there was the chance Traxus wasn't there. Even if he wasn't, Sandra's presence would draw him to them.

"Are you sure about this, Shepard?" she asked into her comm. "Trusting an Asari stripper we hardly know?"

" _She's a victim in all this, Sandra."_ Austin replied through the comm. _"And she's willing to take this chance at being free from the prostitution part of her job. She doesn't even care about the risks if we fail. I wouldn't trust her otherwise."_

" _Long as you don't trust every single person right after you sleep with them."_ Said Alaara.

" _Shut up, Alaara."_ Said Austin.

As Sandra continued her slow walk towards the gallery she could already see that getting in wouldn't' be easy. There was a light wind in the air as it began clouding over. Heavy chances it was going to rain later today when it got dark.

As she crossed the road, she found a big long queue waiting to get in and a bouncer stood at the door. There was even a news team there, meaning Sandra could not afford to be seen. If she was too early that would blow it. Upon seeing that the bouncer was on call to someone however did give the Russian Helldiver an idea. If this had the desired effect she'd be able to sneak in without attracting attention.

A quick little command from her omni tool and she jammed all nearby comms. The news reporter's camera evens topped working and the various advertising screens around the area all went to a blue screen error.

"What just happened?" someone asked as they tried to get a signal back.

"Fucking thing!" the bouncer cursed as he stepped away from the entrance in hopes of getting a signal back.

Quickly activating her cloak, Sandra slowly snuck in. As she did, her jamming signal ceased, allowing everything to reset. A greeting video of Traxus appeared back on the wall as Sandra snuck through the artificial smoke into the main hall. Credit where it was due, the art event wasn't all that bad to be honest.

Since Nyarra would have to see her, Sandra was forced to disengage her cloak and try and mingle with the crowd. Though it seemed to work well, it did seem that she wasn't completely inconspicuous.

"Is that a Helldiver?" she overheard someone say.

"What's one of them doing here?"

After a few seconds, Sandra finally spotted Nyarra as she finished her latest performance. She noticed Sandra and walked off the stage towards the Helldiver.

"Where the fuck you been? You've left me standing here for 45 minutes entertaining some real assholes in this frankly dull party bullshit charity show." Nyarra complained.

"You done yet?" Sandra interrupted.

"Straight to the point then?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well I've been here all afternoon. Nothing. I assume you and your friends have a backup plan, because Koran's not even here." Said Nyarra. But then it hit her. "Oh… you're using yourself as bait. Goddess, I love it because it's such a horrible idea!"

"Seems to be working to me." Said Sandra. "I'll make sure Koran knows I'm here. Once he arrives, we'll handle the rest."

"One more thing. I trust no one's gonna know I had any part in this? If they find out, there's no telling what they'll do to me. I'd be better of dead." Said Nyarra.

"I don't even know your name. Be rather hard for us to rat you out." Said Sandra. "And Shepard told me to give you this."

Sandra handed Nyarra what looked like a revised version of her contract. She still had her job as a dancer, but this time the part about her body being used for sex was now strictly prohibited.

Smiling, the Asari turned back to Sandra.

"Okay. Good hunting then."

With that, Nyarra went back to entertaining the guests while Sandra began searching for Traxus' associate. After scanning a few people and identifying them using her suit's database, she finally found the target.

Said target quickly noticed that Sandra was among the crowds and immediately called Traxus. Normally, Sandra would just jam the call again, but not this time. This time she wanted a call to go out. It was all part of the plan.

Instead, Sandra simply hacked into her comm. so she could listen in.

" _Traxus. It's one of them. They're here. They're at your show."_ Sandra heard the associate say through the comms in her helmet.

" _What is?"_ Traxus' voice asked.

" _A Helldiver. Think she's even part of that squad that's after you."_

" _I see. She's brave isn't she. You make sure she stays there, I don't want her leaving. We're heading over there now. We'll be there in a minute."_ Traxus ordered.

" _I've already got security on it. She's not going anywhere."_

The call ended and Sandra immediately noticed the two security guards at the entrance heading her way.

"Commander, you catch all that?" she asked.

" _Yeah. We've already got an ambush set up. Get out of there."_ Austin replied.

"Easier said then done." Sandra muttered to herself.

Remembering that there was a back door entrance, Sandra headed over to it at a steady pace.

" _I want every exit covered. That Helldiver doesn't leave."_ She overheard Traxus' associate say to security.

As Sandra rounded a corner she noticed that one security guard was blocking her way. This didn't' worry her though. The area was secluded from the rest of the party and it was just one guard. That wouldn't be a problem.

"I see her." He said. "You! Hold it right there!"

Before the security guard had a chance to act though, Sandra suddenly took what was undeniably a pair of Sai's from her belt, and immediately used them to

As the guard fell to the floor, Sandra took a moment to examine her latest new melee weapons. Though it wasn't compulsory, it was recommended that all Helldiver have at least one form of melee weapon should they ever run in fights that require the use of something other than guns. Up till now, Sandra hadn't been able to think of a unique enough weapon that wasn't already being used by one of the squad. Shepard had Excalibur, Ventra had his bow (which could double as a melee weapon), Leena had her Tomahawk, Kraan had a his strength and club, Alaara had her biotics and stun stick, Dash had his speed and Xun had her katana, fan and fung fu skills. Recently though, Sandra had recently found a pair of Sai's. Although she hadn't chosen to pursue it, she had temporarily had some training with these a few years ago back when she was still in advanced training. Not a bad choice to be honest. In fact, truth be told it had been Alaara who suggested that she start training in how to use them. Maybe she should let the Asari buy her another drink sometime.

"Hey, Alaara. Thanks for convincing me to try these. I just might keep them." She said into the comm.

" _Don't mention it, babe."_ Alaara replied.

"And don't call me babe!" Sandra added.

Sandra then turned back to the downed security guard.

"Vy dolzhny byli nayti sebe luchsheye napravleniye raboty, chto ne svyazano s rabotoy dlya prestupnika." She said in Russian.

With that, the Helldiver quickly exited the building straight into the pouring rain. Almost immediately she began to hear the light sound of water droplets hitting metal as the rain hit her helmet and armour. She could even see it on her visual feed as it hit the front of her helmet and slowly ran down it.

It was also night-time which meant that the lights of the city really stood out. Despite that though, it was still very dark and eerie. Sandra would certainly be glad to go home after this mission was over. This city made her feel rather uneasy.

"I'm out." She said.

" _Good. Now head over to the crossing and get into position."_ Said Austin.

Sandra quickly headed over to the crossing. It was inevitable that Traxus and his goons would come this way. The entrance was right next to it after all.

Very quickly, Traxus' vehicle came into view. Following what the rest of her friends were doing, Sandra knelt down and activated her cloak. The trap was set.

"Ready when you are, Leena." Said Austin. "Do it."

Having hacked into the signals earlier, Leena simply changed all of them to green. Almost immediately vehicles began speeding ahead only to crash right into each other. A combination of metal, glass and even tyres went all over the places as every vehicle hit another at least once. Finally it settled.

Though it wasn't the best solution, Alpha did feel it was better to make it look to the public like an accident, even though Traxus was not going to be there at all. They needed him alive. Plus, no one would be killed in this or seriously harmed. It would be a few minor injuries at most.

"Alright, Alpha. Move in on Traxus." Said Austin.

Arguments among the owners of the vehicles had already started along with Traxus' men who had exited the vehicle while the Salarian remained inside. As the Helldivers decloaked, they immediately opened fire, forcing Alpha to take cover and return fire.

In the process, several stray shots hit a nearby vehicle that still had someone in it.

"Help! I'm trapped!" he yelled, desperately trying to get out.

"Get him out of there!" Austin ordered as he popped out of cover and managed two solid headshots on two of Traxus' men.

"Just stay calm." Said Leena as she tried to get the vehicle door open herself to no avail.

"I can't get out! The door's stuck!" the man yelled.

"Get back! I'm gonna have to rip it off!" said Leena.

The man complied and got as far away from the door as he could. Leena meanwhile took out her tomahawk and managed to jam it into the doors gap. Using both her natural muscle strength and the enhanced strength from her suit, she soon managed to tear the door right off.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" said the man as Leena helped him out.

"Stay low!" Austin advised him as Leena resumed her own gunfire.

"Flank 'em!"

Alpha split into two. One side remained where they were while the others went around.

Dash even managed to kill another guard by sliding along the hood of one of the vehicles and firing at the same time.

One more guard fella slo as Ventra managed a solid arrow shot from his bow.

As Dasg continued firing from cover however, he failed to notice how close his shots were getting to the filling station that one of the vehicles had managed to crash into by accident.

"Watch your bloody fire! Those things are flammable!" Austin yelled.

But his warning came a little too late. One of Dash's shots hit the fuel pipe and it ignited the fuel. The fire quickly spread and travelled all the way back to the fuel's source. The whole filling station exploded in a massive fireball sending both sparks, bits of burning debris and vehicle parts flying everywhere. The force of the blast even knocked Xun off her feet causing her to roll backwards until she managed to regain her balance.

"Errr… oops." Said Dash, trying to sound innocent.

"This won't look good in our report." Austin sighed as he ducked back into cover.

Only one guard remained. Xun though surprised everyone by jumping over the vehicle and cutting the guard's neck with her fan. So that was what it was for.

"Clear."

"Clear."

"Alright, get him out of there." Austin ordered.

Kraan simply nodded. With a massive head butt, he first smashed in the vehicles door and finally ripped it out. Before Traxus even had a minute, the Korgan Helldiver grabbed him, tore him out of his harness and threw him to the floor.

"Traxus Koran." said Xun.

"You didn't seriously think you and your friends could hide from us forever, did you?" Austin asked as he and the others stood over Traxus.

"This is suicide. You understand that? You kill me, and you'll open a door you'll never close." Said the Salrian.

"Believe me, Koran. We already have, only difference is that the door is going to close." Said Austin, his voice taking on a serious tone. "If your friends are listening in on this, let me make this perfectly clear to all of them. We know how to hunt you all down now, and we will even if it takes us years and years. If you think we're going to give up, I can tell you that we do not have even the consideration of quitting. But what we do have are a particular set of skills. Skills that we have acquired over a long career. Skills that make us a nightmare for people like you. If you turn yourself in now, that'll be the end of it. We will not look for you, we will not pursue you. But if you don't… we will look for you. We will find you. And when we do... well, I think you can probably guess. Terminus Crime Lords, we've dealt with your friend… and we're coming for you next."

And with that, he knocked Traxus out with a simply strike from the butt of his rifle.

"Really? You used that quote?" Dash asked.

"Who wouldn't?" Austin replied. "Alright. Let's get out of here before the authorities show up."

"Well, that's one down. Five to go." Said Ventra.

"You know, I can't help but feel as though this is similar. Reminds me of some game long ago. Looked great at first but it's graphics then got downgraded to the point of looking like crap..." said Dash.

"Torress, shut up." said Kraan irritably.

* * *

**Thank God for PC modding.**

**Anyway, next chapter shouldn't be too long away. I now have the next 6 chapters or so planned out, just gotta write them all down.**

**See you soon! :)**


	7. Chapter 7, The Tattooed Pirate

**(Sigh)**

**Man, am I glad to finally have this out of the way. It should not have taken this long.**

**I'm vowing right now to do a much ebtter job with the next chapter and to not get distracted.**

**I won't be disapointed if this chapter is baldy reviewd frankly. It definitely isn't my best.**

**But hopefulyl there are some redeeming features.**

**Sorry for the long wait, folks.**

* * *

**YEAR 2, The Criminal Element**

**2174: 18 months after the battle of Elysium**

**13 Years Before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"It took almost 3 months for Traxus' assets to be completely disbanded. It seemed we were dealing with some of the worst kinds of criminal. The ones who wouldn't go down easily without their assets making things difficult. Anyway, our next mission would take us partly into the jungle, into space, and I would soon encounter one very aggressive biotic..."_

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**The Tattooed Pirate**

With all of Traxus' assets and connections taken care of, Alpha could finally move on to the next crime lord, a Vorcha named Korrick. He was currently docked at a small space port on the other side of the planet's jungle. To stay out of range, Alpha would have to land on the jungle's outskirts, near a very high cliff.

"This isn't going to be easy." said Sandra as she observed the holo map. "The object of our attention is Korrick's ship currently docked in the port on the other side of the jungle."

"Well, getting there won't be that hard, and we can handle any patrols. It's when we get there that it'll be more challenging." said Austin.

"What's more, we have to act before his ship takes off. If it does, it'll take us a long time to track him down again." said Xun.

"Well then, we'd better get moving." said Ventra as he loaded up his bow.

As the drop ship hovered low enough, everyone hopped out.

 _"Good luck out there, Alpha. I won't be able to track you through the jungle."_ said Alex through the comms.

As the dropship flew out of range however, everyone suddenly noticed a problem. They'd been dropped off at the beach, at the foot of the cliff.

"What the..."

"Ah. That's going to be a problem." said Alaara. None of them were really meant for climbing, especially with all the weight of their armour and weapons.

"Who chose this drop off point?!" Kraan groaned.

Ventra it seemed was the only one not irritated by the fact that they were stuck. He casually pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back, drew it back with the bow, and released. The arrow went all the way to the top and embedded itself deep in the rock. A rope had also been attached to the end. Now Alpha had the means to properly climb the cliff.

"There. That should do it." he said, trying not to sound smug. He could tell that everyone was a little lost for words that he had thought about that first and they hadn't.

The Turian then simply attached the cable to a small device on his belt and it slowly began pulling the cable in, pulling him up with it.

"Going up."

Once he reached the top, he then let the cable uncoil back out of the device and back to the bottom where the others. One by one, they all repeated what he had done until only Kraan was left.

"Errrr, guys?" Kraan called up to them. "Mine's not working."

Despite many attempts, Kraan's device just wouldn't pull him up. It wasn't powerful enough to take his weight.

Everyone gave a frustrated sigh as they all grabbed the cable and began pulling as much as they could. Fortunately, the combined strength of all the Helldivers was enough to lift the heavy Krogan.

"Two words, Kraan. Lose weight." Dash panted as Kraan reached the top.

"Are you calling me fat?!" said the Krogan angrily as he got up and prepared to punch Dash.

Before a fight could even start though, Austin quickly pushed the two apart.

"Hey! That's enough, both of you!" he said sternly.

"Sorry, Commander." Kraan groaned.

The others turned back to the jungle. Judging from where they were, they still had some ground to cover.

"Keep your eyes open. Chances are they're gonna have a few guards in the jungles." Austin advised.

"I'll scout ahead. See if I can pick a few off even." said Ventra.

"Good idea. Just leave some for us." Austin agreed. "And don't get seen."

"Worry not, Shepard. I will be as a fly ont he wall, a grain of salt in the ocean. I will slip amongst them like a transparent..." Ventra paused as he struggled to find the right word. ..."thing."

"Dude, even I would've come up with something better than that." said Dash.

The Turian went ahead of the squad and began using the trees while they stayed on the ground. He and his bow could do far more damage from the high ground and he'd be unseen, even without his cloak.

"Time to do some hunting." the Turian smiled to himself.

Within just a few minutes he caught sight of a few guards. Not a problem at all. Three quick arrows, one to each head would do the trick.

Rather than do one at a time, Ventra decided to at least attempt 3 arrows at once. He selected 3 at once from the quiver on his back, drew them all back, lined them up with their intended targets, and released.

To his surprised, the tactic actually worked. All 3 guards fell in perfect synch with each other.

"Hmm. Okay I must remember to practice that more often." Ventra said to himself as he continued through the trees.

* * *

After some time and an awfully longer than expected trek through the jungle, Ventra finally caught sight of the space sport.

"Commander, this Ventra. I have a visual on the space sport."

 _"Roger that, Ventra. Hold position until we catch up."_ said Austin.

"Copy that. I'll wait for you here." said the Turian.

While Ventra waited for the rest of his squad to turn up, he scanned the rest of the area using the drone. That way they'd know exactly where every guard was and they'd have a clear path to Korrick.

The Turian couldn't help but let his mind flash back to those long days when he'd been stranded in a jungle, left with nothing but his own survival instincts to help him.

One particularly fond memory he'd had was after he'd quite by accident actually went over a waterfall. He'd been so sure he'd die, but he didn't. That was before he had a run in with a particularly large reptile however...

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

Ventra gasped and took in as much air as he could as he broke the surface of the water. Finally as he felt the air rush back into his lungs he started breathing properly again. He had a to cough and splutter a few times due to the water in his throat, but that was but a minor inconvenience. He'd survived. Against all the odds there were of surviving a waterfall, he'd lived.

"I'm alive." he spluttered, still shocked that he wasn't in some afterlife or anything like that. Finally his mind accepted it and he began laughing. "I'M ALIVE!"

The moment the last word left his mouth however, something very large gently rose out of the water right beside him, and it was too green and scaly to be a tree trunk.

The Turian was only just able to react in time as the massive Crocodile lunged at him. Remembering a few vids he'd occasionally seen of humans wrestling with these creatures, he quickly grabbed whatever he could to keep away from the mouth and teeth.

At first it was a huge struggle, especially with the Crocodile thrashing about all over the place in an attempt to shake him off and get him in a position where it could bite him.

Eventually though, he finally managed to get onto the Crocodile's back where it could reach him at all. Still it continued trying to snap at the Turian, but he dared not let go.

As the Crocodile continued thrashing in and out of the water however, something within Ventra began to change. At first the shock and fright of the Croc's attack was simply making him hold on, but now the adrenaline was beginning to take over. He began to enjoy this. Soon he grew brave enough to grab onto the Crocodile's upper jaw and began to ride it like it was a horse.

"Yeehah!"

Finally, the Crocodile managed to shake him off. Rather than attack him again though, it instead retreated back to dry land. Ventra however wasn't done. The Adrenaline made him want more, especially since he now had the upper hand over this lizard.

"Oh no you don't!" he said as he grabbed the Crocodile's tail and dragged it back into the water. "Don't start what you can't finish!"

The Crocodile attempted to retaliate in defence, but Ventra didn't give it the chance. He suddenly rolled it onto it's back and brought his elbow into it's stomach and continued wrestling and punching it where he could. One of his taloned fingers even accidentally gave it a deep cut above it's right eye.

He then grabbed it again and shoved it beneath the water, keeping it there by force as if he were trying to drown it. He had no intention of killing the Crocodile, obviously, but the adrenaline of this fight had made him a bit hyper.

"Water tastes good, yes." he laughed. "Glub glub!"

Finally, the Crocodile shook free and retreated again. This time though it stayed in the water and swam away as fast as it could.

Ventra simply watched it vanish from sight as he felt himself start to calm down and the adrenaline began to fade.

"You started it!" he panted.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

Even today, Ventra was still a little surprised at himself for managing to do that. Not only had he actually managed to swim very well, especially when it was considered Turians weren't particularly good swimmers, but he was probably the first ever Turian to actually wrestle and fight with a Crocodile and win. Even among humans who had more experience with that sort of thing, it was still an impressive feat.

Finally, Ventra saw the rest of his squad come up behind him.

"What've we got?" Austin asked.

"Too many guards to all kill without being noticed. I took out a few that wouldn't be noticed, but that's about it." said Ventra.

Sandra meanwhile worked on hacking into the enemies comms. She soon picked up a rather interesting one among all the other guard chatter.

Korrick was right at the far en of the spaceport where hsi ship was docked.

 _"How much longer until we ready to leave?"_ the Vorcha snarled.

 _"A few minutes, sir."_ one of the guards replied.

 _"Good. Grow tired of this place. Not enough to feed on."_ said Korrick.

"Everyone catch that?" Austin asked.

"Yep." Dash replied. "We gotta get on that ship."

Quickly activating all their cloaks, Alpha moved through the space port as quickly as they could without the others noticing them.

Korrick's ship slowly began to take off as all the doors and hatches sealed themslves. There was just one bit left though that had the landing gear slowly retreating back into it.

Everyone managed to get in, but Dash ended up falling behind by accident.

"You can make it! Jump!" Sandra yelled.

Dash immediately broke into a run and jumped. Kraan just managed to catch him and pulled him up.

"Well, I guess that's the difficult part out of the way." Dash panted.

"We still have to get to Korrick." said Xun.

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go get him then." said Kraan.

"Not yet, Kraan. We should wait until this ship clears the planet's atmosphere. That way they won't get a chance to land and call for reinforcements when we make our move." said Austin.

"If you say so." said Kraan as he sat on one of the crates, ignoring the fact that it was almost becoming crushed under his extreme weight. "Anybody got something to eat?"

* * *

After a few minutes of patient waiting, Alpha finally felt certain they were in the clear.

"Alright. Let's get this over with." said Austin as he picked up his rifle.

As soon as everyone else stood however, the whole ship suddenly shook so violently that everyone lost their balance and fell.

"What the bloody hell was that?" said Austin. "Everyone alright."

"Yeah. I landed on something quite soft." said Dash.

"Torres... get off me!" Kraan groaned.

Dash quickly noticed he'd actually landed on top of Kraan and immediately got off before he made the Korgan lose his temper.

Then the sound of gunfire could clearly be heard. Someone else it seemed had boarded the ship.

As soon as Alpha exited the room they'd been hiding in, they quickly found the source of the fighting. Korrick's mercs were engaged in a fierce firefight with a band of pirates.

The two sides quickly took notice of the Helldiver and opened fire. Now the battle turned into a 3 way.

"Dào. Wèishéme tā bìxū shì hǎidào?" Xun groaned in Chinese.

"Wooooo! This is fun!" Dash laughed as he fired like mad with his pistols.

"Americans." Austin and Sandra sighed.

Dash's enjoyment of all the shooting however was quickly interrupted when a sudden blind shot from a pirate hit him right in the crotch area. Although his armour absorbed the blow, it had been a armour piercing round and as a result did leave a deep dent, deep enough to cause some pain.

"OW!"

Dash almost immediately fell to the floor, clutching his crotch plate in pain.

"Ooooh! Right in the baby maker." Alaara chuckled, unable to hold back some of her laughter.

Krann on the other hand didn't even bother trying to hide his.

"Heh heh. Now that was funny." he laughed, pausing quickly to blast another pirate.

"Screw you, Kraan!" Dash groaned in pain. "Oh god, my balls."

"Suck it up, Dash. Or perhaps you want me to use biotics to make them feel better?" Alaara suggested, almost in a threatening manner.

"Oh fuck that!"

Dash almost immediately got back up and resumed firing.

"Ha! I'm starting to like you, T'onrack." Kraan smiled under his helmet.

A Leena gunned down another pirate, she spotted one seperate and at the last moment just vanish through the door. She had a feelings he knew where that oen was going.

"One of them's heading for the bridge after Korrick." she said.

"We can't risk them killing him. Cover me, I have to get to him first." Austin ordered as he bolted out of cover in the direction of the door.

* * *

When Austin finally got to the bridge he found it completely deserted save for two figures, Korrick and one pirate who had her back to Austin.

The figure had Korrick at her mercy as she stood over the badly beaten and bleeding Vorcha.

Austin's first instinct was to raise his gun, and he did just that.

"Freeze!"

The figure slowly turned. Her forearms and what was visible of her torso had a fair amount of tattoos on it. Not enough to cover her skin completely, but still more than you would expect to find on any human. She also seemed to have a completely shaved head save the very short strands of hair that had likely grown back. She wore a visor over her eyes and even had brass knuckles on each hand. It was no wonder Korrick looked like he'd been beaten half to death.

"First pirates, now Helldivers! Need better security!" Korrick coughed as he spat blood.

Austin had to admit, he didn't like the look of this. Whoever this woman was, she clearly was no pushover. Obviously he had his armour, but that didn't stop him from feeling as though this woman was trouble. A database scan of her didn't help either. It came up with very little. Her only known alias was Subject Zero and she had quite a few criminal activities on her record.

For a long time there was silence. Neither Zero nor Austin said anything until finally he broke the silence, still keeping his gun trained on the pirate.

"I don't want any trouble. My squad and I just want that Vorcha. Let him go, and there won't be any trouble." he said.

Zero still remained silent. Then one of her hands curled into a fist and, to Austin's surprise, started to glow with biotics.

"Now now, miss. Let's not fight." he said, doing his best to suppress the nervousness in his voice. True he could take a biotic, but this woman looked aggressive, plus it was just her and him all alone.

Finally, Zero said something.

"No actually, let's!"

Zero immediately threw a biotic attack right at Austin which he narrowly dodged. As he rolled out of the way he then opened fire, only for the rounds to stop as Zero blocked them all with a barrier.

"Damn biotics!" Austin mumbled to himself.

Still keeping the rounds in midair, Zero slowly turned them around until they now aimed directly at him.

"Oh shit!"

Zero let the rounds fly again at their normal speed, to fast for Austin to make a move. Instead, and rather to Zero's surprise, he stood his ground. Each round hit him... and simply bounced off his armour. It was times like this that Austin was glad he remembered his Araknes had created the Helldiver armour to resist any kind of fire, even gunfire from their own weapons.

"You'll have to do better than that, darling." Austin said smugly.

Zero though was quick to respond to this though by charging right into him with her biotics and then punching him so hard that it sent him smashing right into the wall so hard that he literally dented it.

 _"Okay, that one **did** hurt... a lot." _Austin groaned in his head.

Seeing now that this biotic was no pushover, the Helldiver drew his sword. He would just have to hope it didnt' get broken. He would never forgive himself if that happened.

As he took a swipe at Zero, she threw up a biotic barrier around her arm to block his blade like a shield. She then delivered a swift biotic punch to his helmet. Not hard enough to cause any significant damage, but still enough to make the Helldiver's optic feed to go static for a moment.

The temporary disorientation was enough for Zero tog rab his blade arm and attempt to make hims tab himself. Austin was just able to recover in time that he coudl angle his arm enough that blade wouldn't impale him, but the sudden push surprised Austin so much he failed to react in time and the blade ended up cutting through some of the armour around his neck and giving him a rather long cut across the side of his neck.

Just as Austin was pushed into a spin by this however, he turned this into an attack. As he finished the spin he suddenly swung at Zero's neck.

The biotic managed to block it, but not enough due to the suddenness of the attack. Excalibur ended up giving her an almost identical deep cut on the neck. Both opponents staggered back, their hands flying to their wounds and examining the bleeding. Zero was a lot more angry and in pain from hers than Austin was.

"One all." he said.

"Right... now you've really pissed me off!" Zero growled, her biotics now flaring even more fiercely than before.

The battle became even more feirce as the two excahnged punches, blocks and many other blows to each other. Almost by the end of it, Austin's armor was so damaged and dented he looked like he'd been run over by several tanks.

Zero on the other hand looked only brusied and had a few cuts here and there. Plus it didn't look like she was tiring any time soon.

Overall, the odds weren't in Austin's favour. And soon they got worse.

As Austin attempted an attack from up high, Zero blocked it with her forarm. Before the Helldiver coudl react in time she suddenly punched him in the ribs with a bioticly charged attack so hard that it literally frcatured one of his ribs and dented the armour in so much that it nearly tore apart.

The suddeness, extremness of the pain and the shock of having a fractured rib was an awful lot for the Helldiver to handle and he fell to his knees, his left hand clutching the rib while the other dropped his sword.

"Aw, did I fracture a rib?" Zero asked mockingly as she charged up her first for a final blow. "Good. Because that's just the beginning. I hope you've got enough room in that armour for my fist, because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and break your goddamn spine!"

Right before Zero thrust her first forward however, Austin suddenly grabbed it in both his hands.

"Not today!" he groaned.

With that, he then gave her whole arm a violent twist so hard that there was the unmistakable sound of bone being broken.

Zero almost immediately gave a cry of pain and backed away, clutching her now broken arm.

"You broke my fucking arm, you asshole!" she swore.

Before the fight could continue any further, the door was suddenly blasted open and the rest of Alpha swarmed in, guns at the ready. Knowing now that she was completely outnumbered, and with her arm broken, Zero was in no condition to fight a whole squad of well-trained Helldivers, especially a Krogan and a Quarian as large as a bodybuilder.

She quickly threw a massive warp at them, which gave enough time for her to retreat through another door, sealing it in the process as she disappeared through.

Knowing that Zero and what was left of the pirates would be long gone by the time they got the door open, Alpha instead headed over to their injured Commander, and Korrick.

"You alright?" Leena asked.

"Fractured rib. Nothing too bad." Austin winced, still clutching his side. "I'll live."

"I suppose nothing hurts you." said Xun.

"Only pain." Austin replied.

"You no take me alive, Helldivers!" Korrick snarled. "I kill you first."

He reached for a fallen pistol, only to suddenly find Ventra aiming one of his arrows directly at his head.

"You can either come quietly, or we knock you out... or you take an arrow in the knee. Your choice." said the Turian.

"Drop dead!" Korrick snarled.

"We don't do requests."

And with that, Ventra knocked the Vorcha out with a swift punch.

"Who was that biotic?" Leena asked as she slowly helped Austin up, taking it slow so as not to cause him anymore extreme pain.

"I don't know." Austin replied, doing his best to breathe through the pain.

"The word's "dangerous bitch" come to mind." said the Quarian. "I mean she did break your rib with just her biotics even though you're wearing tough armour. I wouldn't want her as an enemy, or even an ally for that matter."

"Never judge a book by its cover, Leena."

* * *

**Hopefully the next one should be more interesting.**

**I'm planning for that one to invole Alpha having to go intoa mission without their armour. Plus, first kiss for two characters. So I have faith that one will be better and I'll also have more motivation this time to really put some proper effort into it.**

**Right now I jsut have to stay focused on doing this and don't get so bogged down that everyone else is left in the dark for so long.**

**See you soon.**


	8. Chapter 8, Life of The Party

**Took a bit longer than I thought, but this time I'm still happy with the result. This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write.**

**Not much more for me to say really, excpet sorry you had to wait so long.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**YEAR 2, The Criminal Element**

**2174: 21 months after the battle of Elysium**

**13 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"I was out of action for some time while I recovered from that fight. When I finally did though, it was at least straight back to the action. And not before time, for this next assignment would be the toughest one so far. Now we would find out just how well a Helldiver could do without his greatest ally... himself."_

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Life of the Party**

The next crime lord was the second Asari named Elarni T'eenar.

Unlike many of the others, she was being much smarter about this. She had elected to remain in hiding as much as possible, thus making her much harder to properly locate, even with Aria's information.

Ultimately though, it had brought them to another city planet in the Terminus Systems.

With T'eenar keeping a serious eye out for them all over the city near her building, Alpha had managed to find a safe house to bunker down in until their plan was complete.

Right now though, there was a lot of planning to be done.

"What do we know so far?" Austin asked as he and the others observed the holo map of T'eenar's building and the surrounding area.

"T'eenar's held up in her penthouse. She never leaves, even for things like meetings and such and ever since we started going after the Crime Lords she's tripled her security. It'll be almost impossible to get in without being seen." said Sandra.

"Why don't we just skydive in?" Dash asked.

That won't work either. She's managed to pull some strings to have airspace around her tower monitored. We'd be shot down before we could get close enough." Alexa replied.

"Well, unless anyone's got any other ideas we may have to go in guns blazing." Austin sighed.

Just at that moment however, Xun suddenly received a message.

"Wouldn't be so sure of that, Commander." she said as she projected the message for everyone to see. "I just intercepted a few calls. The Asari's throwing a huge party at her tower in a few days. She'll actually be there in person. Her security will be even tighter than before though."

"Might be our best chance then." said Austin

"But how do we get in without being spotted?" Alaara asked.

"I think we both know the answer to that." Austin simply replied.

There was a temporary amount of silence as Alpha realized what their Commander meant.

"Without our armour? Shepard, that's crazy!" said Leena. "If they discover us, we'll be completely defenceless."

"Then I guess these next few days are very important for us to learn as much as we can." said Austin. "This may be our most toughest and dangerous mission yet. If we're to have any hope of succeeding, we need to study everything, learn everything, and above all we need to be prepared to go undercover."

"Undercover's not really my strong point." Kraan admitted.

"I actually agree. Besides, a Krogan like you might raise too many questions." said Austin. "Same with you, Leena. With all those muscles, you'll stand out too much."

"A shame. They'll probably have an all you can eat buffet there." Kraan sighed.

"What is it with you and food?" Dash asked.

"Shut up, Torres."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Leena asked, quickly changing the subject.

"You'll be backup for us if it all goes to hell." Austin replied.

So who's going to this party?" Xun asked.

"We'll decide that later. For now, we gather intel."

* * *

The streets were well crowded, which made it fairly easy to blend into the crowd. Sandra and Alaara had been chosen first to get what knowledge they could of the building and possibly see what sort of guards it had, and how many.

They could've stayed in their armour, but Austin had felt they'd be able to blend into the crowd much better if they went properly undercover. So right now, they were simply dressed as two casual street people.

"I don't like this outfit. You sure my butt doesn't look big in this?" Alaara asked.

"Quit your whining." said Sandra.

Finally as they cleared the buildings, they came into the large open area of the city, T'eenar's tower was right in the centre. The Asari obviously had a thing for open spaces. Although that being said, it did make it much harder to infiltrate the building since it had such huge distance from any other building.

On the plus side though, it had plenty of nice large park areas were the public was welcome, so it was a fairly popular tourist location. The vast crowds also made it easy for Sandra and Alaara to remain undetected.

The building itself was massive, reaching many stories high, it practically touched the clouds.

"Lot of floors." said Sandra.

"And a lot of guards." said Alaara. "Far too many for me to seduce without a massive orgy."

"Not an image I wanted in my head." Sandra groaned. "Thank you for that."

It was true, the building's ground floors had a lot of guards, guarding both the outside of the entrance, and the inside. The public knew to keep their distance unless they worked in the building or needed to enter. Each guard was also well armed. T'eenar definitely was not messing around.

"Guys, you getting our feed?" Alaara asked, angling her head enough that the hidden on-board camera got some good views of the building and it's security.

 _"Yeah. So far we know where most of the guards are stationed outside. Inside though, that's another matter."_ said Austin over the comm.

"Ventra, you got the scanner arrow ready?" Sandra asked.

The Turian was stationed on the nearest building not far off from their location, ready to fire a scanning arrow at the building that would hopefully map a 3D environment of the interior.

"Yep." he replied.

He drew the arrow back and fired. Despite the long distance, the arrow hit its target. The arrow simply stayed in place and cloaked itself without leaving any sign of chipped glass or any damage.

As the scanner activated though Ventra quickly found the scanner being permanently jammed.

"Son of a..." he cursed. "Arrow's a no go, sir. The building must be shielded from scans."

_"Dammit."_

"And I think they detected something hit the building." said Alaara nervously.

Some of the guards outside had left their posts and were now in the crowds, looking for anyone acting suspiciously.

 _"Stay hidden."_ Austin advised.

While no one actually knew what they looked like under their Helldiver armour, it was best not to take any chances, especially since the Crime Lords had access to some rather illegal Intel and tech, who's to say T'eenar didn't have some way of pulling up their profiles?

"Easier said than done." said Sandra. She was suddenly surprised though when Alaara came up to her, a cup of warm coffee in each hand, one of which she handed to Sandra. "Oh, thank you. Didn't know you like coffee."

"I like all kinds of coffee, if you know what I'm talking about." Alaara winked as Sandra took a sip.

Sandra didn't' answer, but her look and smile said everything.

_"They're heading in your direction."_

The two Helldivers looked to see some guards heading right at them. Normally they wouldn't worry, but admittedly, their disguises did look a bit too suspicious. Sandra was even wearing a hoody and actually had it up.

"What do we do?" Sandra asked nervously.

Alaara didn't' answer. Instead she gently took the coffee cup back from Sandra and put them both on a nearby bench.

"What are you..."

But before Sandra could continue, Alaara suddenly grabbed her by the face and kissed her hard in the mouth. Her first instinct was to push the Asari off and slap her. Had Alaara lost her mind? But her brain soon caught up with her and she remembered how close those guards were. When she even opened an eye she saw that they were frighteningly close enough to see their faces. Quickly closing her eye again, Sandra wrapped her arms around Alaara and eased into the kiss in order to complete the act.

 _"Hmm. wouldn't have thought of that."_ she heard Xun say over the comm.

Obviously the rest of Alpha could see them. Sure enough, she then heard Dash make a comment too.

 _"Does this thing zoom in?"_ he joked.

This was followed through with the unmistakable sound of someone slapping him very hard in the face.

_"Ow!"_

After several tense moments, and with the kiss still going, the guards finally moved on.

For a split second, Sandra was sure she'd felt tongue, but then Alaara finally broke the kiss. The two Helldivers simply looked at one another for a moment, Sandra still a bit surprised by this, and Alaara trying to think of the right words to explain herself.

Sandra eventually broke the awkward silence.

"Next time you're gonna do that, I want to know about it first." she said.

"Don't tell me you didn't enjoy that." Alaara chuckled.

"You are a good kisser, I'll give you that. Sandra admitted.

* * *

The next day, Austin and Dash were checking out the security checks. Those would no doubt be used to ID party guests, so they needed to know what kind of system they were dealing with.

After some time of waiting, some finally came up to the checkpoint.

"Here we go. Security checks." said Austin, making sure he kept a close eye on everything that happened. Dash even zoomed in his hidden camera on the woman who was being checked, particular her name tag on one of her breasts.

"Becky. Nice name. Wonder what she calls the other one." he said.

"And it's such a mystery why you don't have a girlfriend, Dash." Austin sighed.

 _"Looks like they're using ID scanners. Pretty good ones at that."_ said Leena through the comm.

"But you can hack them, right?" Austin asked.

 _"I don't know for certain. Those particular models are a pain in the ass."_ said Leena.

"We can't afford any risks, Leena."

_"I know, Shepard."_

For a moment, Austin considered their options.

"Okay. Until we know if those scanners can be hacked, we need a backup plan." he said.

"Alaara could always sweet talk 'em." Dash suggested.

 _"I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain."_ said Alaara.

Then Austin noticed how the ID scanners worked. They seemed to scan someone and then look up their file.

"Hmmm. Xun, is it possible you can make us some fake ID's?" he asked.

" _And I thought this was gonna be challenging."_ said Xun positively. There was a temporary pause. _"Okay. I got you all fake ID's. They should fool the system, at least long enough."_

"Long enough?" Dash asked.

" _The systems will eventually detect the ID's are faked. Even I can't stop that."_ Xun clarified. _"We'll have a limited window."_

"We still need to know the layer of inside. We may need someone on the inside." said Austin.

 _"Or something."_ Leena suggested.

"What do you mean?"

_"Get back here and I'll show you."_

* * *

Returning to the safe house, they found the place was almost littered with electrical components. Leena was sat a table completely covered in parts and tools.

"What've you got for us then?" Austin asked.

"This."

Leena held in one her hands a small silver ball.

"Wow. You made a silver ball." said Dash sarcastically.

He was then suddenly surprised as the ball seemed to unfold. It then seemed to transform into a very small spider like robot.

"Meet the spider drone. Remote controlled, so small it'll blend into the environment and can fit in the vents and with a direct secure feed back to us here, this solves all our problems." said Leena.

"Impressive." said Austin.

Dash extended out his hand and the spider crawled up his arm until it stopped on his shoulder.

"Cute little fella too." he said.

On a nearby screen, everyone could see what the spider was seeing, which right now was Dash's face close up.

"Think there's something wrong with the feed. Dash still looks ugly." Kraan joked, causing everyone to laugh, even Dash.

"Fuck you!" the Scout chuckled.

* * *

"Shepard, we're in position. Deploying the spider drone now." said Leena.

Despite her size, the Quarian had been able to get close enough undetected.

Very carefully, she piloted the spider drone through the crowds, past the guards and into the building. She then had crawl up one of the walls until it had a full view of the room.

"Lot of security cameras, I must say." said Leena.

_"Leena, see if you can slice into them."_

The drone attempted to access the feeds, but Leena soon encountered a problem and she aborted.

"Negative, sir. It's too well encrypted and constantly monitored. They'll know if I'm in the system." she said.

 _"Alright. We'll have to keep the spider in there."_ said Austin. _"For now, return to base. I'd say we've done enough for today."_

* * *

After a few more days, the night had finally arrived. Alpha had learned as much as they could and those who were attending the party tonight were now getting ready and dressing into their formal wear. Austin and Dash were wearing Tuxedos and Xun wore a dark red Chinese dress. It was weird seeing the Chinese Helldiver out of her armour, but it was nice that she seemed to trust everyone now.

"Ooooooooooooh! Somebody stop me!" Dash smiled as he admired himself in the mirror.

"ID's?" Austin asked.

"Right here." Xun replied as she handed a fake ID to each one.

"James Hyman? Come on, Xun. For one time, give me a cool name!" Dash complained.

"Would you rather have Hugh Jass?" said Xun, causing everyone to laugh.

"Would probably suit him." Sandra laughed from behind a changing booth.

"Screw you all. What did I do to deserve this?" Dash sighed.

"You want that list in Alphabetical order or condescending?" Kraan asked, causing even more laughter.

Knowing that this was an argument he couldn't win, Dash gave up.

"How's the dress, Alaara?" Austin asked as he finished putting his jacket on.

"I can honestly say, I didn't think I'd like it that much, but I actually do. I've never worn a dress that fits this well or feels this comfortable in my life." the Asari replied as she came out from behind her booth.

She was dressed in an unbelievably tight fitting white dress that was completely strapless and low cut to expose as much of her cleavage as possible. To also hide her face a bit better, she'd put on some temporary white tattoos as well.

"Do you have to have that much cleavage on display?" Austin sighed.

"Yes. That way everyone won't be able to keep their eyes off me." Alaara replied.

"Well Dash has made a start on that already." said Austin, indicating to Dash who was now frozen on the spot and drooling as he stared at Alaara.

"Torres, eyes up here!" Alaara yelled nearly making Dash jump.

What about you, Sandra?" Austin asked.

Sandra emerged from behind her booth wearing a black dress, which actually matched her black hair very well. Very long black arm gloves topped it off as well.

"Little tight around the waist." she said.

"Not bad. You should wear this stuff more often." said Xun.

"I think I'm in love." Alaara joked.

Way deep down however, there was a little bit of Alaara that had actually been serious when she said that.

"Alright, everyone. Gather round." said Austin. "Okay, let's run through the plan. Xun?"

Xun once again brought up the holo map of the entire building, this time with all the interiors filled in thanks to the scans from the spider bot.

"We enter the party and mingle for as long as possible until T'eenar turns up to give a speech. She'll then mingle with some other guests for a while. She'll have her guards nearby, but we can handle them. One of us will then try and entice her, start a conversation and charm her enough that she takes them to her room."

"Who's taking care of that?" Alexa asked.

"Haven't decided yet." Austin shrugged.

"I will do it!" Dash said out loud.

Everyone paid no attention however. There was no way they were picking him for that part of the plan.

"We need someone with good people skills." said Sandra.

"I will go!" Dash said again.

"Someone who won't blow their cover." said Xun.

"I volunteer!"

"Someone who really has a way with the ladies." said Alaara.

"For the good of the mission, I will go!"

"Great job, Shepard. Thanks for volunteering." said Sandra.

Seeing that everyone had good reason for picking him, Austin simply nodded.

Dash simply folded his arms and sulked.

"No fair." he grumbled.

"Once she's alone, Shepard then sedates her and we work on getting her out using a zip wire from one of Ventra's arrows. After that, we get the hell out of there." Xun finished.

"Sounds like a plan." said Sandra.

"What about the rest of us?" Alexa asked.

"Backup, just in case. Leena and Kraan, heavy duty backup in case we need our armour and weapons." Austin replied.

"Don't screw up then." said Kraan.

Austin then cleared his throat and addressed everyone.

"I don't need to remind you how important this is. We must take T'eenar alive. This is probably one of the most dangerous and trickiest missions we've ever faced. We're going in without weapons or armour. I've come to trust you all as friends. Now you need to do the same for each other."

Some of Alpha cast looks at one another. Some of concern, some of excitement.

"Anything you want to get off your chest, now's the time." said Austin. Everyone remained silent. "No? Alright then. Let's do this."

* * *

Already the park area around the building was filled with guests of all species entering the building from every entrance.

Finally when it came to Austin he took a deep breath and waited.

"One moment, Sir." said one of the guards

The scanners soon came up with his fake ID, much to his and everyone else's relief.

"Enjoy your evening." said the guard as he let Austin pass.

* * *

The inside of the building had been specially decorated for tonight with lights, food and drinks, even a full bar that hadn't been there a few days ago.

"Hmm. Big party." said Alaara admirably.

 _"Any sign of T'eenar?"_ Alexa asked over the comm.

"Not yet." Xun replied as she too entered.

"For what's it worth, I'm actually gonna miss that look when this is over, Xun. You look very nice." said Austin.

"Thank you." Xun smiled at him.

 _"Shepard. Alaara and I will be near the bar. We'll keep an eye out."_ said Sandra.

"Make sure she doesn't get drunk." Austin advised.

 _"I heard that. I'll have you know I have much better self-control than you give me credit."_ said Alaara.

"Well, now's your night to prove it."

After some time of mingling with the crowd an announcer finally got everyone attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention please. Your host, Miss Elarni T'eenar."

The guests gave a gentle clap as a purple skinned Asari entered accompanied by two guards and another figure that couldn't' quite be seen from Alpha's distance.

"There she is." said Sandra.

She and Alaara moved through the crowds to get a better look. When they finally got a clear view of T'eenar however, an unexpected surprise greeted them.

"Der'mo!" Sandra cursed.

_"Is that..."_

"Shepard, we've got trouble. Look who T'eenar's got as a bodyguard." said Sandra as she sent a vid feed to Austin's omni tool.

Sure enough, standing right next to T'eenar was none other than the Helldiver Slayer herself.

"Fuck! Looks like the Crime Lords weren't done with The Slayer then." Austin sighed.

"What do we do? We're not prepared for this. If she recognizes any of us, we are almost certainly dead." said Alaara.

True none of them had their armour, but there was a good chance the Slayer had a scanner in her helmet. It was said that one Helldiver she'd managed to kill had been out of his armour. She'd found him by using a scanner to identify him and then struck.

"We continue with the plan. Just keep your distance from her." said Austin.

Once the applause died down, T'eenar spoke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. Despite some unsettling rumours about me that have been spreading around recently, it is good to see they have not damaged my reputation around you, my friends. Such loyalty and trust should not go unrewarded, so I declare a toast, to all you fine people! Even a hundreds of years old Asari like myself still lives far too short a time among such excellent and admirable people."

This was met with both the crowd's approval and more applause.

Bowing her head, T'eenar joined the party, the Slayer remaining at her side.

 _"The Slayer's staying close to her."_ Sandra warned everyone.

"Gonna have to take that risk." said Austin.

"Your call, Shepard. Whenever you're ready." said Xun.

"Okay. Here goes." Austin sighed as he took a deep breath.

"Go get 'em, tiger." Alaara smiled.

Gently making his way through the crowds, Austin finally got close enough to the Asari. Just as he was about to get her attention however, the Slayer suddenly stepped in front of him.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.

For a moment, Austin was temporarily unable to speak as his heart rate accelerated. He was beginning to realize just how vulnerable he really was without his armour. Finally he managed to come to his senses. Just as he was about to speak however, T'eenar suddenly put her hand on the Slayer's shoulder.

"There's no need to be so untrusting, my dear. This handsome young gentleman probably just wishes to speak with Me." she said calmly.

"I don't like the look of him, so he keeps his distance." the Slayer growled.

Austin worried that the bounty hunter recognized him somehow, or maybe found him familiar.

"I didn't hire you for this." said T'eenar crossly.

"You hired me to protect you, Miss T'eenar. It's nothing personal, I'm just doing my job." said the Slayer.

"Let him speak to me." T'eenar ordered. "Besides, you are more than capable of handling someone like him if things get... rough, aren't you?"

For a minute, the Slayer once again glared at Austin, the blue optic glow on her helmet of her cybernetic eye gleaming brightly.

"Fine. But I've got my eye on you." she warned.

"Noted." Austin simply replied, managing to regain enough of his calm to resume his act.

The Slayer let Austin pass and kept her back to the two.

"I must apologize on her behalf. She takes her job unbelievably seriously, especially for what I'm paying her for." said T'eenar.

"Not expecting trouble tonight are you?" Austin asked.

"One can never be too careful, especially on a night like tonight. People like me can sometimes attract certain... unwanted attention in our line of work."

"Still, to hire someone like her... The sort of trouble you're expecting must be quite big."

"Helldivers as your know can be very meddlesome. The nature of a disease requires so sharp a remedy."

"No wonder you have such popularity. A beautiful Asari such as yourself that thinks of every eventuality, not something you always see in this galaxy." said Austin, starting to work his charm on her.

"Am I special enough then for you to buy me a drink?" T'eenar asked, her interest in this human clearly peaked now.

"I'd be honoured, Miss T'eenar."

* * *

"How does he do that?" Dash asked in amazement as he noticed Austin and T'eenar heading over to the bar.

"Sometimes it is just a skill that comes naturally. In your case, sadly not." said Alaara.

"Oh yeah? Well, tonight I'm gonna prove you wrong." said Dash.

"This ought to be good." Alaara chucked as Dash marched up to the next Asari he saw.

 _"My thoughts exactly."_ said Kraan over the comm.

"Excuse me, miss..." Dash said to the first Asari he saw.

Alaara and Sandra simply watched from a distance. At first, all seemed to go well, but after a just a few seconds, the Asari slapped Dash so hard they heard it over the comms. The two were unable to hold back a little giggle between themselves. Kraan however practically deafened their earpieces with his laughter.

 _"Hahahahahahahahaaaaaah! Oh that was so funny! Must watch replay!"_ he laughed.

"Not sure I deserved that." said Dash disappointingly.

"Probably had that coming." Sandra giggled.

As Dash turned back to the Asari he'd talked too, she folded her arms, looking very cross at him.

"I'm not that kind of Asari." she said.

"Well, all evidence to the contrary..." said Dash.

But he was quickly interrupted by another slap.

 _"Hahahaha! Stop it, you're killing me!"_ Kraan laughed. There was even the sound of him banging his fist on the desk.

"I may have deserved that." Dash shrugged.

"Hmm, definitely had that coming." Sandra agreed.

* * *

Back with Austin and T'eenar, they were now stood at the bar. Austin had bought the Asari quite a few drinks. He'd been careful to merely sip on his whereas T'eenar hadn't done the same. A lot of glasses of Asari wine would no doubt lower her defences. Now came the true part of the seduction.

"You have good tastes, Mr..."

"Smith. Drake Smith." Austin replied, using his fake ID name. Admittedly, it was an okay name.

"And what is it exactly that you are a part of in this corner of space?" T'eenar asked, her eyes now showing a keen interest in this handsome young man.

"I'm what you might call, a Collector. If someone wants it, I like to think I've got it. And if I don't have it, I'll get it. I've earned a bit of a reputation for collecting rare Asari artefacts, and then offering them up... for a price." he said.

Off to his left, Austin noticed how the Helldiver Slayer had temporarily glanced at him while he'd said that. She slowly turned her head away shortly after. This did make Austin suspect that she was listening on the conversation, probably to make sure T'eenar was as safe as she could be.

"Tell me, Mr Smith. Is it only artefacts you collect?" T'eenar asked suggestively.

"Oh no. There have been plenty... other Asari related items I've managed to come across." Austin replied slyly.

"Like what?" T'eenar smiled intriguingly.

Very gently, Austin's left hand began to snake around her waist. She didn't make any attempt at all to resist.

"I'd love to show you up close if you'll allow me."

Very gently, he pulled her closer until they finally kissed. Once again, T'eenar offered no resistance. The combination of Austin's charm and the Asari wine seemed to be doing its work.

The Slayer once again glanced at the two. She sighed and rolled her eyes at the sight of them kissing.

 _"Should've got paid up front."_ she groaned in her head.

Finally the two separated. The look in T'eenar's eyes was unbelievably seductive. It was clear from that look alone she was just waiting for this human to say the rest of the conversation that involved him and her going up to her room and... getting to know each other even better.

"And that's just one Asari skill I've learned from your people. There's plenty more where that came from." Austin smiled.

"You'll have to show me in private then. Follow me."

* * *

"Goddess, he's good." said Alaara. "Nearly got me turned on too."

 _"Be careful, Shepard. I've heard some rumours that T'eenar's a dominatrix. I don't know if they're true or not though. Just try not to let her get the better of you."_ said Xun.

* * *

They took the elevator up to T'eenar's private room's right at the very top of the building. Austin hoped Ventra's aim was good if the arrow carrying the zip wire was to meet its mark. The Helldiver Slayer luckily had stayed below with the rest of the party. Austin guessed that T'eenar was so confident in her security upstairs that she didn't think her bodyguard for tonight was needed for this.

As the doors closed and the elevator began its ascendance, Elarni suddenly pounced on him and pushed him against the glass side.

"Someone's eager." said Austin surprisingly. "Thought we were waiting until we reach your private rooms."

"Who said anything about that?" T'eenar smiled as she suddenly accessed the stop button with her Omni tool and the elevator halted.

They were definitely nearer to the top, obviously so no one would see them.

"Well, this is... unexpected." said Austin. The slight nervousness in his voice was admittedly both partly acting and partly real. This was surprising, but it didn't' change anything about the plan.

"Don't worry, I still intend for us to enjoy this in my room, but I'm in such a good mood that I want to be adventurous." said T'eenar seductively.

As she spoke, she unzipped the side of her dress and let it fall into a pile on the floor, revealing her mostly nude form, save for some black panties. From her breast size, Austin reckoned she was either in, or had just entered her Matriarch stage. They really were that large.

"Just entering the Matriarch stage I see." he said, finally managing to put his surprise aside and resume his act.

"Just a few days ago. Right on time I'd say." said T'eenar as she walked up to Austin and pushed him against the glass and kissed him again. "No doubt you've been with some of my kind before, but never a Matriarch I'll bet."

"I like were this is going." Austin acted.

"I bet you do. Now, just relax." she said as she went to unbutton his jacket. "Let Elarni take you to heaven."

Suddenly she felt a light but sharp prick in one of her breasts. She looked down to see Austin had shoved a syringe needle into her and had just finished the injection.

She almost immediately felt the effects of whatever it was and began to feel like she was about to fall asleep.

"Sorry to deny you. But I don't make a habit of sleeping with crime lords." said Austin.

T'eenar simply groaned as she fell to her knees, continuously trying to use all of her strength to fight the sedative.

"You won't get away with this. The Slayer will find your friends!" she said weakly.

"Wish her good luck then." Austin simply replied as he accessed the elevator and made it resume it's ascent.

With that, T'eenar succumbed to the sedative. Try as she might, she was unable to fight it. Despite a Matriarch's extraordinary mind power, that sedative had been specially made to put one like her out completely.

While he waited for elevator to stop, he worked on redressing the Asari in her dress and then began trying to work out the best way of getting past her guards and into her private rooms. Finally he came up with what he believed would be the best solution.

The elevator stopped and the doors finally opened. Carrying the unconscious Asari on his back, Austin took cover at a wall, T'eenar's private rooms and two guards were right around the corner.

"Leena, I need your help quickly. I've got two guards blocking my way and I can't afford to be seen by them, especially with their unconscious boss." he whispered into his comm.

_"Okay. Just hold on a second."_

Having snuck into the elevator, the spider drone once again crawled on the walls, the guards completely oblivious to it. Finally, once it was close enough it unleashed a massive electrical surge, killing both guards.

 _"There. That should do it. But be quick. Another patrol may come by."_ said Leena.

Not wasting any time, Austin hurried into the room and made his way to the biggest window. He didn't' bother trying to examine the room since it was hardly his main concern at the moment.

"Ventra, I'm in position." he said. At the same time, the spider drone attached itself to the window. "Breaking glass in 3... 2... 1..."

The drone emitted a sonic vibration that was quiet enough no to be heard, but strong enough to shatter the glass.

From the nearest building far away, Ventra saw the glass fall apart and immediately readied his arrow. He fired and after a minute or so it hit its target and secured itself in place. Austin then packed the unconscious T'eenar into a body bag and attached it to the improvised zip wire. As it zoomed down, he then fixed himself to the rope.

"Guys, we've got T'eenar. Time to leave." he said as he let himself slide down.

Just as he touched down on the roof to join Ventra however he suddenly overheard the enemy comms.

_"This is unit 5. I've got two men down. The boss' window is also smashed. Assume hostiles are in the area."_

"Uh oh." he said.

* * *

Back at the party, everyone else could hear too.

_"Security, we just did another scan of some of the guests. Some of their ID's are fake. We have Helldivers in the building!"_

_"I knew there was something about that man."_ said the Slayer.

_"We're gonna lock down the building."_

_"No! We don't want to give them a chance to hide. Leave them to me. I will find them myself. For now, I want you to cover all exits. If anyone leaves, I want to know about It."_ the Slayer ordered.

_"If you say so."_

"What are we going to do?" Xun asked worryingly, making sure to keep her distance and back turned as the Slayer began mingling with the crowds as she searched for them. Now they were beginning to truly realize how vulnerable they were, especially now that they were being hunted.

"Just stay calm." said Alaara.

Both her and Sandra did their best to keep up their act, but the Slayer was heading dangerously close towards them. Alaara was left with little choice.

"Gonna have to kiss you again. Just do as I do." she said quickly.

"Well at least you warned me this time." Sandra sighed.

This time, Alaara took Sandra's body in her arms as they kissed. Sandra herself did the same as she acted.

For some reason, this kiss wasn't like the first one. It was different. Very different in fact. It almost felt real, like there was actual love in this kiss. Alaara even became so lost in it that for a moment she believed she was in this different reality where she and Sandra were a couple. Were they were deeply in love, planning to get married and maybe even some little blue children.

As her arms began gently moving over Sandra's form, she noticed how the human was touching her crest very gently. Was she feeling the same? Was it somehow having the same effect? The Asari wished she knew.

For Sandra, this was very different. She'd grown accustomed to kisses from men, but from an Asari ,which were regarded more as female despite their mono gender, it was a different experience. She was unable to deny how Alaara's lips felt against hers, how smooth her skin was, and just how nice this really felt.

Why was it she was feeling this way though? She saw Alaara just as a friend, anything else would just feel... different.

Now that she thought about it though, perhaps it wouldn't feel so different.

The two were interrupted from their thoughts however when they finally separated from the kiss for air.

The Slayer had walked past them. They could relax.

"Big day!" said Dash keenly , having stood rather close to them and had just seen them kiss again.

"Tell me, Dash. When was the last time someone smashed you through a wall?" Sandra asked.

"Surprisingly not that long ago." the Scout replied, clearly getting the message.

Suddenly the Slayer turned back and once again headed their way, her red and blue optic eyes scanning the entire area like a predator hunting its prey.

"Uh oh."

"To the dance floor." said Alaara quickly.

"What?!"

"Just do it!"

The two slipped into the massive crowd of people dancing, practically concealing them. But that still didn't stop the Slayer. She just simply walked in as well, walking amongst everyone as they danced. Her intimidating looks was enough to warn everyone to keep their distance, thus giving the bounty hunter enough room to move where she wanted.

With little choice, Sandra let Alaara take her hand and put her other round the Asari's waist and they began dancing, trying their best to blend in.

"This is crazy." the human sighed, the nervousness in her voice starting to show as her eyes often darted back to the Slayer.

"Try to act normal. Pretend I'm your lover or something." Alaara whispered.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Sandra sighed.

"A little bit."

The dance continued for several painfully long and tense seconds before finally the dance ended. Convinced that her targets weren't in the crowd, the Slayer left. Dash spied her as she exited the dance floor right as the next dance began.

"The Slayer's exiting the dance floor... and she's heading my way." he said.

"Stop touching your ear." said Xun.

"Sorry?"

"Put your hand down!"

But it was too late. When Dash looked back, he found the Slayer staring right at him... and he still had his finger on his ear.

"Ohhhhh shit!"

Before Dash could do anything, the Slayer immediately whipped out a pistol and pointed it right at him. Some members of the party immediately backed away in fright.

"If there's one thing I hate, it's uninvited guests." said the Slayer.

Before she could fire however, Alaara suddenly ran out of the crowd and grabbed her arm.

"Get off me!" The Slayer yelled as she tried to shake the Asari off of her. In the process, the gun was swinging all over the place, causing the entire crowd to duck, fearful that it might go off.

Finally Alaara pointed the gun up high right as the Slayer attempted to pull the trigger. The gun fired. The shot went up, ricocheted off of the chandler and shot right through a beer glass someone was drinking out of. Thinking that the person next to him had done that, the man punched him. Immediately, the entire party erupted into an all-out bar fight, with security attempting to quell the riot with little success.

The Slayer struggled even more violently until finally she got free of Alaara. This was short lived though as Alaara suddenly hit her with a biotic punch that sent her flying into the wall, and actually through it, creating a large hole.

"Time to go?" Dash asked, reappearing from under a table that he'd been hiding under earlier.

"Yep!" Sandra nodded.

"Seal all entrances! Nobody leaves!" one of the guards yelled.

Very quickly, the entrances were blocked, and now security knew who they really were.

"Kraan, we've got trouble. We need our equipment, now!" said Sandra.

Rather surprisingly, the second the order left her lips, Kraan suddenly burst through the hole in the wall, accompanied by a small hovering carrier with all their suits on it, completely assembled and ready for action.

"Special delivery!" the Krogan yelled as he charged through several of the security forces. Everyone immediately hurried over to their armour as it opened up and resealed with them inside.

"Targets are in their armour. Take 'em down."

"Still up for another dance, Alaara?" Sandra asked, unsheathing her Sai's as both she and Alaara were surrounded.

"Like you even had to ask." Alaara smiled under her helmet as she too took out her stun stick.

* * *

Xun meanwhile was on her own against several of the guards. This didn't seem to worry her though.

The very second one of them attempted to shoot her, she attacked. The Chinese Helldiver moved so fast that she almost became a blur, catching the guards completely by surprise.

* * *

Dash meanwhile was being his usual self as a few of the guards raised their guns at him.

"What's up, Brah?! Oh, you think you can handle this?!" he teased as he twirled his pistols.

He then suddenly ran right at them, his speed catching them completely off guard and allowing him to take them all down. The last one though, he actually knocked out by accident by colliding headfirst into him. The Scout quickly got back to his feet, hoping no one had seen that.

"I meant to do that! I meant to do it!" he said quickly.

* * *

The guards attempted to all attack at once, but even that didn't make Xun break a sweat. She was all over the place. One single swipe to the legs from her took down all the guards.

"Take it easy, Xun. You're starting to make the rest of us look bad." Dash joked.

"You have your moments, I have mine." Said Xun as she knocked out the last of the guards surrounding her.

A sudden loud thud attracted Xun's attention. She looked to the source of the noise to see the Slayer climbing out of the rubble, and she looked pissed. Xun didn't say anything and simply readied for another fight, gently unsheathing her metal fan.

"Well well well, the Helldiver's information Broker." said the Slayer as she brushed some of the dirt off her cloak. "I've been hoping we'd eventually meet."

"You will answer for the murder's you've committed, Slayer." Xun simply said as she drew her Katana.

"Ha. You're not the first to say that." the Slayer said as she drew both her own swords "And you won't be the last!"

The Slayer attacked first with Xun simply blocking her blows. Despite the Slayer's speed and ferocity though, the Helldiver seemed to have it under control. Every strike she blocked until he finally she countered one and delivered her own attack with a swift kick to the head.

The kick caused the Slayer to only temporarily stagger back, but it definitely told her now that Xun wasn't going to be so easy.

"Very good… Helldiver." She growled.

Xun attacked this time, with the Slayer blocking her attacks.

With a swift movement, she managed to completely disarm the Slayer of both her swords. She swung her fan arm down at the Slayer's legs, tripping her up. As Xun thrust down however, the Slayer quickly rolled out of the way and back onto her feet. What she did next though, caught Xun off guard.

Several knives suddenly extended from inside the arms of the Slayer's cloak. With several quick movements of her arms, she threw several of them at the Helldiver, which she only just blocked, each one falling harmlessly to the floor.

This gave the Slayer the opportunity she needed though, and the bounty hunter attacked again, this time using the blades as her weapon.

Xun though continued to parry and block each strike, despite the Slayer's aggressiveness and ferociousness.

Like Austin, she too found this fighting style surprisingly familiar. The Slayer seemed to be on even skill with her, and only a few Helldivers could fight her that well without struggling. The Slayer was even gaining the upper hand.

In an attempt to reverse the odds, Xun managed to land a swift kick on the Slayer, knocking her to the ground again. The Slayer though almost immediately flung herself back onto her feet and swung her arm upwards. In the process, every single knife left on her right arm shot at tremendous velocity. Xun barely managed to fling herself out of the way in time. One knife even just barely scratched her helmet while the rest embedded themselves in the wall behind her.

For a moment, the two opponents glared at each other. Xun had a feeling she now had the upper hand. The Slayer had just used up all her knives now and Xun stood between her and getting them back.

Thinking that however was Xun's biggest mistake. The Slayer raised both her arms as the slots where her knives had been on her arms opened up… and a blue glow of energy enveloped her hands.

Almost instantly, the knives in the wall began to shake and very quickly became pulled out of the wall and flew at high speed towards the biotic energy calling them back. Xun quickly realised this and immediately jumped, flipping in mid-air as each knife flew past her, just barely missing her. Finally she landed as the last of the knives returned to the Slayer's wrists. Immediately, the bounty hunter drew them out again, pretty much ready to continue the fight.

 _"Great. She's a biotic as well. Could this get any worse?"_ Xun groaned in her head.

It was hard to tell, but Xun had a feeling the Slayer was smiling under her helmet. In a duel like this, it was always an advantage to have the element of surprise.

Xun attacked first once again, this time using her sword directly as she swung at the Slayer's head, only for the bounty hunter to duck right under the attack. Xun however then grabbed the Slayer's neck under her arm and using her suit's strength, she threw the bounty hunter to the ground. With her opponent temporarily down and disoriented, Xun charged and attacked. Just in time, the Slayer brought up both her arms and blocked Xun's katana.

Metal grinded against metal as the two women attempted to overpower each other. With a sudden amount of strength, the Slayer suddenly managed to disarm Xun of her katana. The bounty hunter then tackled Xun to the floor and began to punch at her helmet hard.

All the while, Alaara and Sandra continued to fight the last of the guards. As Sandra slashed another guard with her sai's, she suddenly noticed that Xun was in trouble.

"Xun!"

"Sandra, wait!" Alaara yelled.

* * *

The Slayer delivered a sharp kick to Xun's stomach, knocking her across the floor. The bounty hunter then threw her hard at the wall, the impact making the Chinese Helldiver even more disoriented and clearly weakened.

Falling to the floor, Xun could only look up as the Slayer stood over her, ready to deliver the final blow.

Without even thinking, Sandra ran at the Slayer and sunk one of her Sai's right into the bounty hunter's back.

The stab caused the Slayer to only stagger and grunt, but it didn't look as though it had hurt her at all. She simply seemed to ignore that she had a Sai in her back. She immediately turned her head to Sandra.

"You stupid little girl!" she growled.

Sandra simply stood her ground, despite the fact that the surprise of the Slayer not being mortally wounded from her attack and brushing it off like it was nothing had made her nervous.

"Sandra, no!" Xun yelled, trying to get back up.

The Slayer lunged at Sandra. The Comm expert however counter her strike and delivered a hard punch to the bounty hunter's back, pulling the Sai out of her back in the process. The Slayer quickly recovered though and spun to attack, her knives just narrowly blocked by Sandra's Sai's. Unfortunately, they'd ended up lodged in the one of the blade guards.

Quickly noticing, the Slayer used this to her advantage. With an immense amount of strength that would've practically broken the arm of anyone not wearing armour, she disarmed Sandra with a sudden thrust from her arms. One arm then grabbed Sandra by the neck and forced her to her knees, the other arm at her throat, with the knives threatening to slit it.

At the same time, Xun finally managed to get back up, both her weapons ready. She stopped however when she saw that the Slayer had her knives at Sandra's neck.

"Xun, drop your weapons, or your… friend will die." the bounty hunter ordered, the knives on her arm extending even further outward and now pressed close enough to Sandra's neck to cut it wide open.

"Don't listen to her." Sandra choked.

"Quiet, you!" The Slayer shouted, tightening her grip.

For a long moment, Xun didn't respond. Finally though, she stood down. With a heavy sigh, she reluctantly threw down her weapons.

"Good girl." The Slayer smiled under her helmet.

"Alaara, now!" Xun suddenly yelled.

"What?!"

The Slayer whirled round to find Alaara standing behind her, with her biotic fields enveloping the chandler above them.

"If you wanna hunt Helldivers, you should know we travel in packs." the Asari said.

With that, she flung both her arms down and the chandler broke free from the ceiling. With the Slayer distracted, Sandra took this opportunity to elbow the Slayer in the stomach, allowing her to flee just in time as the chandler crashed down on the Slayer.

"Are you alright?" Alaara asked, helping Sandra up.

"I think so." Sandra coughed. "Let's get out of here."

With the last of the guards dealt with, they left the building.

At the same time, a large piece of the now fallen and smashed chandler was suddenly smashed away, revealing the Slayer, still alive and from the looks of things unharmed. By the time she'd managed to get herself out however, Alpha was long gone.

"We'll meet again." She growled.

* * *

"Well... that went well." Sandra panted.

"I will admit, that was actually a pretty fun party." Xun nodded.

"Who are you, and what did do with Xun?" Dash joked.

"Shepard, this is Alaara. We're clear." said Alaara into her comm.

 _"Well done, all of you. Didn't quite go how we hoped, but we got what we came for. Mission accomplished."_ said Austin proudly.

"I quite enjoyed that. I hope we get another invite soon." Dash joked. Fortunately, this time everyone laughed with him.

"Alaara… thanks for saving me back there." Sandra smiled.

"You're welcome. You'd have done the same for me anyway." said Alaara bashfully.

"You know… you're absolutely right." Sandra agreed.

The human and Asari both smiled at each other. To think that when they first started they'd had a somewhat awkward partnership. But now... now they were willing to trust each other with their lives.

"That's what friends do."

* * *

**Definitely one I'm quite proud of, even if some bits were rushed here and there.  
**

**Apologies also to those who thought there was going to be a sex scene. I had actualyl planned for there to be one, but in the end I decided that Shepard wasn't the sort of man who would sleep with a criminal.**

**Only a few more crime lords left now. Haven't quite decided which one to do next yet though. Hopefully though it won't take too long to do.**

**Hope you enjoyed this one at least. Let me know what you thought. :)**


	9. Chapter 9, Two Codes Collide

**Finally got this done at long last. I should've finished it many months ago.**

**Apologies you all had to wait so long. Hope at least it confirms to you I'm not dead or anything or might have stopped writing. Let me make it perfectly clear that the only way I'll stop writing this story is when I finish it, whatever it takes.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter. Hope it was worth the wait. Admittedly, there a few good highlights in this chapter I'm quite proud of.**

**My motivation's also back big time, so hopefully progress will improve greatly.**

* * *

**YEAR 3, The Criminal Element**

**2175: 27 months after the battle of Elysium**

**12 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"The next crime lord was definitely the sort we were very used to. Hell, we had to deal with his kind nearly all the time. On the plus side however, we did meet someone who proved to be of great... enlightenment to all of us..."_

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Two Codes Collide**

A Batarian slaver. Why was that not a big surprise?

Lot of money was unfortunately made in slavery, particularly of humans.

Alpha almost felt a bit more relaxed this time since they'd be dealing with a crime lord they at least knew how to fight. Of course, their main priority was freeing the slaves first. The Helldiver code taught them to value and protect innocent and always put them before the mission. It was as follows:

Rule 1: Never hurt an innocent or allow an innocent to die, even if it means aborting the mission at hand.

A common mistake often made when the rule was heard was that you could not hurt a civilian at all, even if they attacked you and got hostile. But the Arkanes had that covered as well.

Rule 2: A Helldiver can defend itself from an unprovoked or random attack from an innocent as long as they do not kill them. Physical injury to the civilian will only be permitted to a certain extent.

* * *

"How many of these rules are there, exactly?" Xun asked.

"Don't you know?"

"I'm an information broker Helldiver, Dash. Not a soldier."

"Well since you asked, there are

Rule 3: Always obey orders given by a superior. This applies to officers in the Alliance as well. Disobeying an order without good reason is punishable by either form of discharge."

Rule 4: Never remove your helmet unless absolutely necessary or you are ordered to remove it. (This rule is not compulsory and is simply a guideline.)

Rule 5: Be discreet where possible. Lethal force should only be used if absolutely necessary.

Rule 6: All Helldivers, regardless of species are to be treated fairly and as equals. Racism of any kind will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Rule 7: Mission reports are to be filed correctly. Lying on an official report is a court martial offense.

Rule 8: A civilian's betrayal of a Helldiver must be handled correctly. If the civilian betrayed you only to save another or because they did not have any other choice at all, was unwilling to do it, or is suffering from guilt because of it, then they are permitted to live. This does not apply however if the betrayal was committed under selfish reasons, such as money, personal issues or any other reason that is not good enough. The same applies also if the traitor does not regret at all what they have done. If it has been for any wrong reason, then the punishment is death. Incorrect sentencing is a court martial offence.

Rule 9: No one gets left behind, or forgotten. Not unless it is their choice, or the mission demands it.

* * *

"Hmm. Strict, but very fair." said Xun.

"Indeed."

Finally, the dropship touched down and everyone stepped out.

 _"What'll I do in the meantime?"_ Alex asked from the cockpit.

"Might be best if you just remain here. We might be a while." Austin recommended.

_"Roger that, Commander. Good hunting."_

* * *

Since there weren't any leads at all, Alpha decided to head to the nearest bar and see if they could learn anything. All they had to hope was that they didn't attract too much attention.

Since the appearance of a squad of Helldivers would raise way too much suspicion, it had been decided that Alaara would go in without her armour and try and find out what she could while the others stay cloaked, ready to back her up if necessary.

"An Asari bartender. Must admit I'm a little surprised." said Dash.

"Just leave this to me." said Alaara confidently.

"Hmm. Pull off your charms on her and then bed her." Sandra joked.

"I'm not going to do that... this time." said Alaara.

"Riiiiiiiight." Austin teased.

"Shut up."

* * *

"What'll it be then?" the bartender asked.

"Just something not too strong." Alaara relied casually.

"Fair enough."

The bartender quickly poured out a drink for Alaara, which the Asari drank.

"So, what brings a stranger like you out here?" the bartender asked.

"I'm looking for an old acquaintance of mine. A Batarian. Goes by the name of Malek. Heard of him?" Alaara asked.

Within just a few seconds however, Alaara suddenly felt the barrel of a gun touch the back of her crest.

"One word too many, sister." said the bartender, obviously aware of this. "No one who knows Malek asks about him. Who are you with?"

"She's with us." Austin said as he and the others quickly uncloaked and pointed their guns at both the bartender and the merc holding Alaara at gunpoint. "And I suggest you let her go."

That however didn't have the desired reaction. Almost immediately, everyone in the entire bar whipped out a gun and pointed it at them.

"Well... shit!" Dash swore.

"Now, now. We don't want any trouble." said Austin, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Then you came to the wrong place, my friend." one of the mercs said. "First that Justicar shows up asking questions, now you."

"What?"

The bartender then suddenly pulled out a gun from behind her bar and fired right at Alaara, at point blank range even. To everyone surprise however, a biotic field suddenly blocked the round and it remained frozen only inches from Alaara's head.

"Alaara?" Austin asked in surprise.

"I'm not doing that! Those aren't my biotics." said Alaara, sounding just as surprised as Austin was.

A sudden thud got everyone's attention. Out of the shadows fell the unconscious body of a merc... and an Asari dressed in blue armour and wearing some type of blue decoration on her forehead gently stepped over him. One of her hands was clearly maintaining the biotic barrier protecting Alaara.

"Pardon my interruption, but it looks like you could use some help." she said.

"Get 'em!"

The entire bar erupted into a large fight. For the Helldivers and the Asari however, it wasn't what they would call violent. In fact, it only took a few seconds to deal with everyone.

"We appreciate your help back there, Justicar." said Austin, once the fight was finally over.

The Asari looked at him with a hint of surprise.

"You know who I am?" she asked.

"We know **what** you are, but we don't know **who** you are." Austin clarified.

"I am Saphira. A servant of the Justicar code." said the Asari as she bowed her head. "And of course I know who you are. You are Helldivers, yes?"

"I'm Commander Austin Shepard of Alpha Squad." Austin introduced. "This is Kraan, Alaara, Sandra, Leena, Ventra, Xun and that's Dash."

"Hey, how you doing?" Dash asked suggestively. He was definitely winking under his helmet as well.

The moment he got within range of the Justicar though, she suddenly punched him so hard with a biotic fist in the helmet that he fell to the floor.

"Ooh! I like her!" Kraan smiled as he clapped.

"About time someone punched him. I'm just sorry it wasn't Me." said Alaara.

"Ow! That really hurt." Dash groaned as he got back up.

"Well then maybe you'll think twice next time before you speak to me like that. Hmm?" said Saphira.

"Point taken." Dash immediately replied back, slowly but swiftly making his way back to the group and out of range of Saphira's fists.

"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Sandra joked, causing a light chuckle from everyone but Kraan who ended up actually bursting out laughing.

"No. That one I deserve." Dash sighed with regret, still groaning due to his soar cheek. Even with his helmet, that was definitely going to leave a bruise. Not to mention that was the 3rd humiliating time a woman had hit him in front of his squad.

"I apologise, Justicar." Said Alaara. "He's… young."

"And foolish." Kraan added.

"That's enough!" said Austin sternly.

"I've been offended by worse. May I ask why you are all here? Helldivers aren't usually seen here very often." Saphira asked.

"We're here looking for a Crime Lord who's also a Batarian slave. We have reason to believe he's hiding here somewhere." Austin explained.

"I see." said Saphira. "Hmm, then perhaps our goals may be similar."

"What do you mean?"

"I am here investigating recent disappearances that have been happening here. They all seem to be humans that are of little consequence. It sounds like the sort of thing an alien slaver would do. There's a good chance we may be hunting the same criminal."

"What were the chances of that happening?" said Ventra rhetorically.

"Have you managed to find out anything?" Alaara asked.

"That is all I know at the moment. I have been careful to not try and attract too much attention by not asking too many questions. Sadly, that may no longer be an option after this." said Saphira, her tone obviously indicating that she was pointing fingers.

"Ah. Well in that case, I apologise on everyone's behalf." said Austin.

"There's no need. You didn't know." said Saphira calmly. "Besides, your arrival here may end up being an advantage."

"I think I can guess where this is going. You're going to propose we work together, aren't you?" Xun asked.

"Indeed. We would both benefit from each other's help." said Saphira. She noticed though that Alpha seemed to giving each other concerned looks, as if they were worried. "Is something wrong?"

"Well... er... We don't have a lot of experience with Justicars. The Arkanes only know a small bit about you, and as a result so do we. I just worry we may end up accidently interfering with your code or doing something that might require you to kill us."

"You do not need to be so afraid of me. I am in exactly the same boat as you. I know very little about Helldivers myself. I am only 600 years old and I have only been a Justicar for 200 years."

"It always sounds so weird when Asari say things like that." Dash whispered as a joke.

"The feeling's mutual for us too, Torres. Believe me." said Alaara unapprovingly.

"I can understand your concern about us working together. But if you are patient and willing to learn, then so am I. We might wear different armour, but I have the feeling our codes are not all that different from each other." said Saphira.

"That's a very good point, and well made." said Leena.

"And her biotics will help us really kick ass in a fight." Kraan added.

"It's like you often say, Shepard. "The enemy of my enemy, is my bro." said Dash.

"Maybe not exactly like, Dash..." said Austin. "But you aren't wrong."

He then turned to the rest of Alpha.

"What do the rest of you think?" he asked.

"I suppose it vould be the smarter option. It's not like ve had any leads of our own anyway." said Sandra.

Everyone else seemed to nod and murmur in agreement. That seemed to settle it then.

Austin turned back to Saphira, walked up to her, and they shook hands warmly.

"Very well then, Justicar. You've got yourself some allies."

* * *

"I have nothing to say to you, Justicar." the Batarian spat.

First thing Alpha and Saphira had agreed on was that they needed to learn more about their target before they went after him. The first lead they'd been able to chase up on was a Batarian who was reported to work for Malek.

"Speak to us, or speak to the Goddess. It's your choice." Saphira threatened.

"You won't stop the work he does. Cannot stop it."

"Stop what? What work?"

"He prepares them for the journey."

"Journey? That what you call slavery now?!" said Austin, almost losing his temper.

"They are held in his warehouse, and when the time comes, they are sent to camps." said the Batarian, still no regret in his voice.

"Where is this warehouse?!" Saphira demanded.

"He tells me only what I need to know. Nothing more. It is safer that way."

"For him perhaps, but not I fear for you."

With that, Saphira snapped his neck.

"You didn't need to do that." said Austin.

"My code required that I do. Is yours so different?" Saphira replied.

"We would've knocked him out had it been our choice." said Austin. "But it was your call. No use dwelling on the past."

"So what now?" Ventra asked.

"Might be best if we split up into 2 teams. Alaara, you lead the second.

Alaara nodded and the squad went their separate ways.

* * *

Alaara's group soon came across two more individuals, one of which they were able to identify as associates of Malek. Both Batarians. Rather than interrogate them though, Alaara suggested instead they simply listen.

"Please. You must help me. I'll pay you anything you ask. Anything." The first said worryingly.

"It's not so simple, my friend." said the other.

"But it is. I know all his tricks. He is a coward, not a fighter. Especially with that squad of Helldivers hunting him. He'll run at the first sign of trouble." said the Batarian. "Take this map. It will show you where he likes to hide."

"You don't understand."

"Oh, I understand. You are afraid. You call yourself a warrior, but a single slave trader fills you with fear."

"Fear? Nothing of the sort."

"Then what?"

"It would be bad business on my part, seeing as I already work for him."

"You?"

"So now you understand? Go. Leave now and I'll forget we had this conversation."

Having felt they'd listened enough, Alaara opened a comm channel.

"Shepard, you catch that?" she asked.

 _"Yeah. Might come in handy if Malek flees. Keep your ears open for anything else."_ Austin replied.

* * *

"So what else? We still need a bit more information than that." Saphira asked.

"Hmm. Xun, do you have any contacts and agents stationed here?" Austin asked.

"I do actually." Xun replied. "Yes, they're bound to have learned something."

* * *

Sure enough, the contact agreed to a meeting. The team found him waiting for them.

"Mistress Xun. Good to see you in person." he said, bowing his head in respect

"You as well." said Xun, returning the bow. "I trust you know who we're here for?"

"Indeed. I have been eavesdropping and I've learned much. They say Malek has many loyal bodyguards, all of whom will readily give their lives for the Batarian. If they're boss is in danger, they are sure to intervene, giving him time to escape. That is all I know about Malek."

"We appreciate you telling us." Said Saphira.

"I hope it helps you."

* * *

"He's a coward! If it wasn't for the money, I'd be long gone!"

Alaara's group had once again come across another pair of Malek's associates to eavesdrop on.

"You're either stupid or blind! Maybe it's both."

"How can you say that?!"

"You didn't see what happened."

"I saw well enough! Our transport was attacked, and the first thing he did was flee!"

"No. He didn't run."

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you forget what became of the men that attacked us?"

"Felled by our snipers."

"No. Not our snipers, him… alone."

"So you're saying… he saved us?"

"Yes. He headed for higher ground. Used his sniper to kill them."

"I… I had no idea."

"He's a dead eye with that weapon. You'd do well to remember that."

With that, the two parted ways and left.

"Now that is definitely handy." Said Alaara. "That information will probably save our lives now."

* * *

"Okay. We do this right, and we won't even have to fire a shot." Austin said, checking his gear for tomorrow.

"I hope your right. If Malek escapes, there could be collateral damage." Said Saphira.

"Not on our watch, sweetheart." said Dash cockily.

"Don't call me that."

"Sorry." Dash quickly apologised, making sure he got as far away as possible. "Please don't hit me again."

Alaara meanwhile appeared to be practicing with her biotics. It looked like she was trying to make a biotic shield around something other than herself. Saphira was a little surprised that the younger Asari still didn't know how to do that.

"Having trouble?"

"A little."

"I find it a little strange you don't know how to do this already, especially at your age."

"I used to be an Eclipse merc. They always taught me to protect myself rather than others. As a result, I never fully learned how to put a shield around someone other than myself." Said Alaara.

"They train their soldiers that way?" Saphira asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, I'm not proud of that. That's why I left them for this." Said Alaara. "That's… not a problem with you is it? That I used to be a merc?"

"My code does compel me to kill the wicked, but it also permits forgiveness." Said Saphira.

"The past is the past. Besides, Alaara's trying to move on and redeem herself." Said Sandra.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Alaara smiled.

"If you like, I could try and teach you how to do that, young one." Saphira offered.

"Young? I'm only 300 years younger than you." Alaara chuckled, causing Saphira to smile.

"I hope Sandra looks that good when she's your age." said Dash.

"SHUT UP, DASH!" Alaara and Sandra yelled together.

For the next hour or so, Saphira began teaching Alaara how to make a barrier around something other than herself. The Justicar seemed surprisingly good at it, and she was also very good at being patient. Alaara also listened well and seemed to be doing okay.

"Try to relax more. Think of something peaceful." said Saphira calmly as Alaara tried to concentrate on maintain the field she'd done around a simple datapad lying on the table.

For a moment, Alaara struggled to think of something peaceful. She couldn't think of sex because that would just make her aroused and unfocused.

When the barrier started to weaken slightly, Saphira worried Alaara wasn't focusing enough.

"Don't lose your focus, Alaara. Concentrate." Said Sandra.

For some reason, the sound of Sandra's voice seemed to make Alaara relax a bit more.

An image then popped into the Asari's head. A memory of the time she and Sandra kissed in order to avoid detection. Something about that made Alaara feel all warm and calm inside.

Within just a few seconds, Alaara's barrier started to stabilize. It even seemed to expand a bit more and grow stronger.

"That's good. Keep doing whatever you're doing." Said Saphira encouragingly.

For the last few minutes, Alaara managed to keep the barrier perfectly stable and sustained until she finally used up her energy. Finally, she let it drop.

"Very well done, young one. Keep practicing like that and you'll learn it no time." said Saphira proudly.

"Vhat did you expect from an Asari Helldiver?" Sandra asked rhetorically, also sounding proud of Alaara's accomplishment.

Alaara couldn't help but feel rather flattered at this compliment and she smiled back.

Deciding that now was as good a time as any to ask the Justicar some questions, Austin cleared his throat.

"If you don't mind me saying, Saphira... You seem very different to what we've been told about Justicars." He said.

"Oh?"

"Well for one, you look different to them. They usually wear some kind of uniform, whereas you're wearing armour."

"You're not wrong. That outfit is what Justicars wear, but it's more worn by the older ones who are in the Matriarch stages of their lives. Whereas younger Justicars, like me, wear more armour to protect ourselves since our biotics aren't as powerful yet, and we don't have the luxury of being able to block every single attack." said Saphira.

"It's also mostly blue. I thought all Justicars wore red."

"That's a common misconception actually. There's no single colour for Justicars, people just often assume red is the custom because it's most the common one." Saphira explained. "Some of us wear black, some of us wear blue, as long as the outfit is a Justicar outfit, it doesn't matter what colour. Some Matriarchs even choose to have their cleavage on display for some odd reason. I personally never see much point in letting people see my tits."

"So you're able to customize these outfits?"

"To a certain degree."

"Seems our two orders are indeed very similar."

"So I've noticed. You all have the same basic armour look, but you come in different colours, styles, accessories and sizes."

"In more ways than one." said Dash suggestively.

"Is he always this annoying?" Saphira sighed.

"You've no idea." Austin smiled, shaking his head.

"May I ask you something, Shepard?"

"Of course. Ask away."

"Your Helldiver code. What does it say about romantic involvements?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I am merely curious."

"It does not forbid any kind of romance. Not even between ranks. Personal attachment is encouraged in fact, helps in a way to strengthen our bonds with each other. Long as it doesn't interfere with our mission our duties, we're free to pursue romantic involvements with whoever we choose, be they Helldiver or otherwise."

"That must be nice."

"I think it is." said Austin. "What about your code?"

"Mine does not forbid romance either, but most Justicars choose not to pursue romances."

"Why's that?"

"Often, they become too used to the life of a Justicar that the thought of retirement seems so... alien to them." said Saphira. "Add to the fact that many of them first became Justicars because of some deeply personal matter."

"Why did you become one?"

"My mother was a Justicar." Saphira replied, her tone of voice starting to turn somewhat sad. "She... she was killed many years ago... and died in my arms."

"I... I don't' know what to say. I'm so sorry."

"Before she died, I swore to her that I would follow in her footsteps. That I would finish what she started. It was never a life that she intended for me... but I told her that it was my decision. She told me that she was proud of me for being so willing to make the sacrifices to become a Justicar."

"I made a promise to her, and I intend to keep until the day I die."

"Based on what I've seen, I'd say your mother would be enormously proud of you."

"I'm glad you think so. If she could see me now... wearing her armour like it was my own..."

"This was your mother's?"

"It was her will that I take it and use it. I didn't even have to modify it since it fits me perfectly."

"Well, sounds like we'll both be making people proud tomorrow." said Austin confidently. "In this life, and the next."

Saphira simply smiled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

The next morning, everyone was up bright and early and well rested for what was to come today. No doubt it would be easy.

"Are we ready for this?" Austin asked as he finished checking his gear.

"Ve're vith you, Commander. Just give the vord." said Sandra.

"Alright. Let's do this."

* * *

Making sure to be as discreet as they possibly could, the Helldivers and Justicar made their way inside, taking care not to be seen. As soon as the last of one made it through the door however, it suddenly shut behind them.

"That's not good." said Ventra.

"I think he knows we're here." said Leena.

"No games, Slaver! Show yourself." Saphira demanded.

No reply.

"Hmm. Nice guns." said Kraan.

"Dude! Don't talk about Saphira's tits!" said Dash.

"I meant these, you idiot!" said Kraan, indicating to the many weapons all stored in gun racks around them.

"Oh."

"You are an odd one, Dashiell Torres." Saphira sighed.

Suddenly a voice spoke through the dark.

"So, you want to see who called you here?" it said, undeniably Batarian.

"You did not call us here!" Saphira yelled. "We came on our own."

"Did you now?" Malek's voice asked. "Who unlocked the door? Cleared the path? Did you once raise your weapons against a single man of mine? No. All this, I did for you."

A small slot on the ceiling suddenly opened, letting a large beam of light spill into the area.

"Step into the light then, and I will grant you one final favour."

Cautiously and reluctantly, Alpha complied. As soon as they did, the undeniable figure of Malek slowly stepped out of the shadows.

"Now I stand before you." he said.

"Come down here! Let us settle this with honour." said Austin, drawing his sword.

"Why must it always come to violence with your kind?" Malek sighed. "I will not allow my work to be threatened. You leave me no choice. You must all die."

Almost immediately, Malek's bodyguards attacked out of the darkness, very nearly catching everyone off guard. They were just narrowly able to unsheathe their melee weapons in time. Kraan simply resorted to using his fists and strength while Saphira used her biotics.

"Come on! You want a piece of me?! I'll tear you apart!" Kraan roared as he threw a lone bodyguard at several more, toppling them over like bowling pins.

A sudden hit caused Dash to stumble and he fell on a crate, the weight of his armour cracking it open. As he regained his senses from the earlier blow, the Scout suddenly noticed the contents of the crate, and incredibly large and heavy looking min gun.

Large, clearly designed to be used only by a Krogan, and extensively modified for maximum firepower, it looked like the sort of thing that Kraan would love to get his hands on.

True Kraan already had a gun, but this... this looked like something that would really do some damage in the wrong hands, or in this case... the right hands.

"Kraan, catch!" he yelled.

The Krogan turned to face Dash as he grabbed the massive gun and threw it. Kraan caught it in his hands and gave a quick observation. He could already tell that this was a gun unlike any he'd wielded before and that it would pack one hell of a punch.

"Oh... yeah."

Within an instant, he opened fire. The minigun practically tore down anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in the path of its bullets. Explosions went off all over the place as Kraan pretty much hit anything. What's more, the Krogan was having the time of his life. He was yelling and laughing madly as he gunned down any in his path.

"What am I paying you for?! Kill them!" Malek yelled.

Austin meanwhile was fighting with a very skilled bodyguard who was using his Omni tool to duel the Helldiver. Kartalrium mixed with black carbon fibre clashed with orange hologram as the two blades hit each other.

The Batarian then parried one of Austin's attacks, causing the Helldiver to stagger slightly and lose his balance. Austin was only just able to bring Excalibur back up as the Batarian swung down, his blade only just being blocked by Excalibur.

Despite the advanced strength his suit gave him however, Austin couldn't overpower the Batarian. To make things worse, he suddenly noticed another bodyguard coming up behind him, ready to stab him in the back. Acting almost on instinct, Austin quickly drew his pistol using his left hand and fired.

To the Helldiver's surprise, the shots hit their target and the Batarian fell. With guard pinning him down somewhat surprised by the sudden move, Austin seized his chance. He shot one of the Batarian's feet, causing the alien to cry in pain, clutching his foot. Austin then finished him with a slice to the neck.

Two more suddenly charged him. Once again, as if it was a reflex, Austin brought up the pistol in his left arm and fired two shots. Both hit the bodyguards in the knees, causing one to fall completely, and the other to trip slightly but still head at him, only to then be swiftly cut down by the his sword.

Austin looked at the pistol with surprise. He was not surprised at the weapon, he was surprised at himself. In all his time as a Helldiver, he'd never done something like that before, ever. He'd never dual wielded his sword and a gun at the same time.

"Didn't know you could do that, boss." said Dash, sounding just as surprised as Austin was.

"I'll be honest, neither did I." said Austin in amazement.

Normally, Helldivers didn't use their melee weapons and guns together. Using both wasn't unheard of however. A few Helldivers in the past had found ways of using the two together almost seamlessly. Some even had their melee weapon and gun as one weapon.

Far as Austin was aware however, what he'd just done was normally fairly straightforward to do, but very hard to master. In fact, it was only due to him using a pistol that he'd managed to be on target. Any other weapon like a shotgun, submachine gun or assault rifle was possible, but it took an incredible amount of practice to properly master. Also, the bigger the weapon, the more strength you needed, as well as precise aiming. Randomly blind-firing rarely worked in that sort of way when firing with just one hand while also concentrating on using the other hand to fight enemies that were right up close.

Right now though, that was something to think more on later. Right now, Alpha still had a fight to win.

Kraan was continuing to enjoy himself as the massive gun just kept on firing. Body after body was almost piling up on top of each. A few explosive crates were also taking care of reinforcements as they exploded from the minigun's stray rounds.

Up above, Malek could finally see that his guards weren't doing any good and that pretty soon he'd be captured if he didn't run. He could shoot them with his sniper, but he wasn't on high enough ground. Plus, at this range, he doubted his sniper would do much damage against a squad of fully armoured and fully trained Helldivers.

With the exit nearby, he made a break for it up the ladder and outside onto the roof.

"He's getting away!" Saphira yelled as she took off after Malek, using her biotics to jump up to the high level

"Dash, go after him and help Saphira! We'll take care of these guys!" Austin yelled, cutting down another bodyguard with his sword.

"I'm on it!"

The Scout immediately took off after the two and soon disappeared outside as well.

The fight meanwhile continued as Alpha worked on finishing the last of Malek's bodyguards. Kraan continued gunning them down and causing explosions, Austin for some reason had decided to stick with dual wielding his sword and pistol having discovered he was surprisingly good at it.

Finally, Austin killed the last two bodyguards with his sword and pistol, leaving the entire room in silence at last.

"Well that went well." Austin panted.

"It went better than that, Shepard." Said Leena.

Austin turned to find everyone gazing in surprise at the devastation Kraan had caused. It turned out that the minigun was so powerful it had torn not just through the bodyguards, but through explosives barrels, building supports… and the entire wall which had just finished crumbling.

"That... did all of this?" Xun asked.

"Zhest'." Sandra said in surprise.

Kraan looked at the weapon for a moment, looking almost as amazed himself.

"I am definitely keeping this." he smiled.

* * *

Saphira was finding it almost impossible to keep up with Dash. He was almost running at Cheetah speeds. Even Malek seemed to actually be running for his life.

Despite his best efforts, including blind firing with a pistol, causing some of the surrounding crowd to panic and flee, Dash still remained hot on his tail.

In a desperate attempt to shake them, Malek toppled over a nearby merchant stall. Although Dash did see this, since he was already running very fast he failed to slow down in time so that he could jump over it. The fallen stall tripped him up causing him to land face first in a pile of hot sauce.

Knowing that a small thing like that wouldn't kill Dash (and the fact that she was still a little cross with him after his initial attempt to flirt with her yesterday) Saphira jumped over him and the stall and continued after Malek.

When she rounded the corner into a dead end however, she found Malek facing her... with a human woman in his arms.

"Back off, Justicar! One more step and I'll blow her brain out!" he yelled, pressing gun to the woman's head.

Saphira immediately froze. If she dared try anything she risked him hurting the woman, and her code wouldn't allow that.

For a moment, it looked like Malek had won. However Saphira suddenly noticed something behind Malek. She could just make out a cloaked figure behind Malek, with what looked like hot sauce on its head.

Malek turned too late and the figure quickly disarmed him, allowing the hostage to flee. At the same time, the rest of Alpha finally caught up. For a moment, they looked confused as to why Dash had something on his helmet.

"Is that blood?!" said Leena.

"Hot sauce. Don't' ask." Dash panted as he handcuffed Malek. "Well... that went as well as could be expected."

"I'm surprised you knocked him out. I would've killed him." said Saphira.

"We need him alive. He may have information that may help us not only take down the last two crime lords, but also the Kingpin himself." said Austin.

"Understandable." said Saphira, her voice almost sounding a bit hesitant.

"Don't worry. He will definitely be facing justice for his crimes." said Alaara.

"So what happens now?" Kraan asked.

"I see no objection to him remaining in your custody. Especially knowing that he will be punished. I have done what I came here to do." Saphira replied.

"So I guess this is vhere ve part ways?" Sandra asked.

"Aw! Already? We were beginning to like you." said Dash.

"If I may be so bold, you will be hunting down the rest of them, won't you?" Saphira asked.

"Yes?"

"You are without a doubt one of the most interesting parties I have ever worked with and fought alongside, and I would hate for us to part ways so soon." said Saphira. "I am proposing that I remain at your side and I help you take down the rest of these crime lords. My code compels me to do it anyway, so we would both have a better chance if we continued to work together."

Alpha simply looked at each other for a moment, and then nodded before turning back to the Justicar. Austin then held his hand out for Saphira to shake.

"We'd be honoured, Saphira." he said, smiling under his helmet.

* * *

**Overall, despite the numerous delays, I'm actually quite pleased with how this turned out.**

**Only two more crime lord chapters left now before we move on to another different segment of Origins.**

**So until next time! :)**

**Keep up your support. It's what really helps keep me going after all.**


	10. Chapter 10, The Turning of the Tide

**That's better! Done in much less time.**

**Added a few extra scenes I'm quite proud of as well.**

**So yeah... enjoy! :)**

* * *

**YEAR 3, The Criminal Element**

**2175: 3 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**12 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"After losing Kallun last time, we definitely had a score to settle with this crime lord. This time there'd be no Helldiver Slayer to save him. This time, we were going to capture him. To be honest though, that was not the turning point. It's what we learned from it, and happened after that that was. If we had known that day about what the vague hints we heard would lead to... well... let's just say we would not have been so quick to regard it as unimportant…"_

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**The Turning of the Tide**

Only two crime lords remained now. A human female, and Alpha's old acquaintance, Garth Kallun. After the somewhat disastrous last time they'd met, Alpha were all the more determined this time. Not to mention that this time they had help in the form of a Chinese information broker and a Justicar. The chance also of the Helldiver Slayer showing up again was slim this time. Last time Alpha had been one step behind, but now... now they were the ones out in front.

"So where do we start?" Saphira asked.

"First off we gather Intel and determine when a good time to strike is. Just barging in face first guns blazing isn't a recommended strategy."

* * *

It didn't' take long for Alpha to find an employee of Kallun's. The man had just come out of a discussion with someone else regarding the crime lord.

"You seem to know quite a bit about Kallun. Tell us what he's planning." Saphira demanded.

"I don't know much. Only what I'm told, nothing more." the man said frighteningly, more scared of the massive armoured Krogan that had him pinned to the wall.

"A pity. There's no reason to let you live if you've nothing to offer in return." Kraan growled.

"Wait, wait! There is one thing."

"Continue."

"He is preoccupied as of late. He oversees the production of many weapons."

"What of it? They're meant for what's left of the crime lords. This does not help us, which means it does not help you." said Austin.

"No, stop! Listen!" the man begged. "Not the crime lords. They're for someone else. The symbol these arms bear, they are different, unfamiliar. It seems Kallun is supporting another, but I know not who."

"Is that all?" Saphira asked.

"Yes. I swear it. I've told you everything I know. Please don't kill me!" the man begged again.

"We'd sooner destroy a stain glass window then kill you." said Austin politely. "However, since we can't have you telling anyone about us either…"

Unsheathing his sword, he used the blade guard to knock the man out cold.

* * *

Later that evening, with other members of Alpha having done the rest of the required recon, everyone had assembled to prepare their plan for tomorrow.

"Alright, I've gathered a layout of the area. The difficulty is getting in there without being detected. After that, getting to Kallun will be a piece of cake." said Leena, pulling up a holo map of the area.

"Don't talk about food." said Kraan. "You're making me hungry."

Before Dash could reply with some kind of joke Austin quickly spoke first and changed the subject back to the mission.

"What about Kallun himself though?" he asked.

"Here's what we've learned. Kallun makes his fortune selling arms and armour and is supported by many in this endeavour. He's the single largest death dealer in the system." Xun replied.

"A meeting is being arranged to discuss an important sale. They say it's the largest deal Kallun has ever made. He'll be distracted with his work. This is the best time to strike." said Ventra.

"The plan seems solid enough." Saphira nodded.

"I should hope so. After he got avay form us last time, we're all itching for a little payback." said Sandra.

"In the meantime, everyone be sure to get plenty of rest. You all need to at your best for tomorrow." said Austin.

Everyone simply nodded and went their separate ways. Austin meanwhile went to check his gear. As he finished checking his assault however, his elbow accidently knocked something and his sword fell on the floor.

Xun, having stood quite near, picked it up for him. Before she could give it back though, she suddenly took more notice of the sword. She began to look at it more closely.

"I never truly noticed this before. It's a fine blade." she said admirably. "Where did you get it?"

"It was given to me." Austin replied. "General Zartrack himself forged it for me as a reward for apparently being "the finest sword fighter" he'd ever known."

Xun gently drew the sword out of its holster. Unlike her katana, which was like any other, Austin's sword was clearly more designed and looked like it was specifically for a Helldiver's use.

Like a Katana it had a very slight curve to it, but only just. Oddly enough, it actually bore more resemblance to a feudal Japanese Kabutowari (a.k.a. hachiwara) sword due to the blade guard it had on the inside of the blade rather than on the outside. In a way though this did come in handy. The whole point of that bit was to both hook onto enemy weapons and also protect the user's arms if ever an opponent's blade got on the inside. The handle appeared the right size to be used by both one hand or two and had a guard over it made of an apparently black material which continued up the sword and around the actual blade itself as a way of firmly reinforcing the already strong metal part while leaving the front and back fully exposed so that they may do the cutting. The exposed silver part had a few ridges here and there as well, possibly there for durability. Most noticeable however was the writing on both sides of the black part of the main blade. It was Arkadian.

"Wow. It's even lighter than mine." Xun said in surprise. As she gave the blade a gentle swing, she noted how her arm moved almost as if she wasn't holding anything at all.

"A mix of Kartalrium and black carbon fibre." Austin explained.

"To be made from that… it must be very special." said Xun. "I've never seen its equal."

"Zartrack said the same thing when he gave it to me. It's a day I don't think I'll ever forget."

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

**1 Year before the Battle of Elysium**

The doors to General Zartrack's chambers slowly opened and Austin stepped in.

The young Helldiver had to admit, he was a little nervous. Not just because of the fact that Zartrack must want him for something very important if he'd summoned him like this through a private message, but also because he had never been in here before.

The chambers were not what Austin had expected. He had half expected the General's quarters to be filled with all sorts of ancient ancestral weapons, or possibly have every inch of the walls covered with medals and such. But no. Actually, it looked more like a library. There were several tall shelves filled with either codecs or very old earth books.

There were still a few relics and things on display though. A few looked like ancient writings of some kind. On closer inspection, Austin could see they were in Arkadian. It was hard to imagine that such an advanced race had once written on stone or paper in the same way humans once did.

A few other display cases seemed to house ancient armours, most of them very early Helldivers.

"Impressive, aren't they?"

Austin turned to find Zartrack standing pretty close. Someday he would have to ask how the Arkane did that. Appeared out of nowhere without a suit.

"Fine collection, I must say." Austin nodded.

"I like to honour our ancient history. Not that I'm saying I object to what we are now." said Zartrack.

Austin then took notice in one particular display.

This one was undeniably a human Helldiver, but it certainly did stand out a lot. There was no other way of putting it; it looked like a Spartan (not a Halo one)

It pretty much had all the essentials. The long spear, the shield, the sword, and most noticeably the massive Mohawk on the helmet.

In addition to that, this Helldiver had decorated his armour with all kinds of extras. A battle dress at the back of the legs, a long torn loincloth at the front, a line of skulls across the chest, a painting of playing cards on his right shoulder armour, and a skull painting on his helmet with glowing eyes.

As so many would probably say... total badass!

"Who's this meant to be?" Austin asked.

"That one? Well, don't you recognize him?" Zartrack asked, a tiny bit surprised.

"He looks familiar, I must say." Austin replied. "Can't remember off the top of my head though."

"This is Saint Theodore Draken, better known as Ares. One of the very first human Helldivers, and also one of the most famous." said Zartrack.

"Oh yes. I remember now." said Austin. "Kind of a living legend among the Helldivers. He trained my father once if I'm not mistaken."

"Indeed you are correct." said Zartrack. "Your father and I knew him rather well. We stayed close friends till the end of his days.

"End of days? I though he retired." said Austin.

"He did. By end of days, I mean his end of days as a Helldiver. This isn't his actual armour though. It is just a replica for display. I like to keep it as a reminder. He was a good friend." said Zartrack proudly.

"Did you teach him as well?" Austin asked.

"I didn't actually. He learned from an Arkane much older than me. Dead now sadly." Zartrack replied.

"Anyway, I'm guessing you didn't ask for me just for a history lesson?" said Austin.

"No. I asked you here because I have something for you." said Zartrack as he walked behind his desk and took something out.

Austin was amazed to find Zartrack holding what was undeniably a sword. Wasn't' like any sword he'd seen before.

"I have had many students before, Shepard. But never before have I trained someone who has such skill with a sword. Out of all the students in my fencing lessons, you are the finest student I have ever taught. I make no secret that you are also my favourite Helldiver student, but I definitely favour your skill with a sword more than your skill as a soldier." said Zartrack. "Therefore, I feel you have earned something very special for this."

The Arkane slowly walked up to Austin.

"Yes you already have a sword, but that is just a training sword, and it is nothing like this sword." he said.

For a moment, Austin was unsure how to react.

"Take it. It is yours now." said Zartrack.

Very slowly, Austin took it in his hand. He was instantly amazed by the weight. It barely had any.

"It's so light." he said in surprise as he weighed the sword slightly in his hands.

"Do not let that fool you though. It's strength and sharpness are not to be taken lightly." said Zartrack.

Austin examined the sword a little more. The craftsmanship was unlike any he'd seen before. Clearly this sword wasn't made by any smith among humans.

"Clearly it is Arkadian made. Where did you get this?" he asked.

"I made it. Forged it myself by hand." Zartrack replied.

"I didn't know you could forge, sir." said Austin in surprise.

"There's much you don't know about me, my student." Zartrack smiled. "Unpredictability, as you know, as is a powerful ally.

"It looks almost innocent." he said.

"But it's heart is pure. It needs the master it belongs to, and that is you." said Zartrack.

"Master, words cannot express how grateful I am, and I truly appreciate the effort you must've put into making this. But are you sure I am worthy of such a weapon? Something this powerful…" Austin asked.

"This sword was forged for you, and you alone. To anyone else, it is simply another tool like any other. In your hands however, it becomes something else entirely." said Zartrack. "I forged it especially with your fighting style in mind. What's more, it is forged from a mix of black carbon fibre… and Kartalrium."

Austin looked up in surprise at the mention of the word.

"I trust that makes you realize how special that makes this sword?" Zartrack asked.

"All too well, General." Austin replied, now looking at the sword with even more admiration. "I've heard many stories of other weapons like these… some I wasn't sure if they were even real."

Though Kartalrium was used in the armour of every Helldiver, for a weapon to be forged from that metal was very rare. Not just because it was more reserved for armour, but also because it was hard to forge by hand. Special heat was required to properly melt it, and it required skill to properly forge. Because of this, weapons that were forged from Kartalrium were not only considered rare, but also special. It was believed that these weapons had a special destiny, or were far more powerful than ordinary weapons. It was with good reason after all, Kartalrium was the strongest metal in the galaxy and was almost indestructible. Add to that it could absorb heat better than gold, did not conduct electricity, and (although this was just a rumour) was said to take in that which made it stronger.

"This one is especially unique, even among other Kartalrium weapons. It is the only one of its kind. Treat it well, and it'll serve you just as well. And believe me when I say this, Shepard, you could not wish for a finer blade." said Zartrack.

"I… thank you, General. I don't know what to say." said Austin as he drew the sword out its holster and gave it a few experimental waves. The sword felt like no other he had other held in his hand before. The lightness made it respond to his lightest touch and its movements felt so smooth and fluid. At the same time though it felt strong, like the sort of the weapon that really could do some damage.

"All I ask is that you use it well, and look after it. One does not come across a weapon like this every lifetime." "It shines, a dream that all warriors scattered in battle, past, present and future, hold and mournfully exalt as their final moments approach. You carry their will as your pride, bidding them to remain steadfast in their loyalty. As the only one of its kind, it is legendary and thus has a legendary name. Its name… Excalibur."

"You named it Excalibur?" Austin almost chuckled. He noticed how there was Arkadian writing on each side of the blade. He immediately translated it as the sword's name.

"And why not? It is a special sword, and I dare say I think it is worthy of having such a name." Zartrack smiled.

Austin then turned the blade over and looked at the other side. Rather than finding the same writing as he had expected, on the other side it said something different.

"And… my name as well." he said, almost surprised.

"As I have made clear, it is yours now. Let it also remind you of what I've always taught you. True courage is about not knowing when to take a life, but when to spare one."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

* * *

"One hell of a gift." said Xun. "And it still looks brand new. You've had this, what, 4 years now?"

"I've looked after it. I keep it clean, I keep it sharp, and I treat it as though it is a part of Me." said Austin.

"You should count yourself lucky." said Xun as she handed the sword back to its master.

"Oh, I do, Xun. Believe me. Sometimes I even still wonder if I am truly worthy of this sword." "It is named after a legend... and it pretty much lives up to that legend." said Austin, gently taking Excalibur back in his hand.

"I say you deserve it, Shepard. You've been leading us for 3 years now, and though not all of our missions have gone smoothly in the past, we've always found a way to succeed. It just makes us want to follow you anywhere, even to death." said Dash.

"Didn't think I'd ever say this, but I agree with Dash." said Kraan approvingly.

"I could not agree more. My 2 years of working with you has also made me come to see you and your squad as friends. Though I have disagreed with you in the past, your courage and wisdom has never led us astray. So I cast my sword with yours, if you will have It." said Xun, drawing her sword and gently holding it out.

"I will have it gladly, Xun. Austin smiled as he let Excalibur gently rest on top of Xun's katana.

"As will we." said Sandra, adding her Sai on top.

This was soon followed by Alaara's stun stick, Leena's tomahawk, one of Ventra's arrows, and one of Dash's pistols.

"You too, Kraan." the Scout smiled.

Though Kraan was unreadable under his helmet, it looked like he did approve. Gently lifting up his minigun, he let the tip rest on top of everyone else's weapons.

Saphira finally topped it off with her hand, creating a light hum of biotics around it.

"Your actions... are my actions." she smiled.

"To unity... and friends." said Austin.

Everyone else immediately replied in union.

"TO UNITY AND FRIENDS."

* * *

"You're men have failed to fill the order, which means I've failed my client." Kallun complained.

As it turned out, Alpha had managed to sneak through surprisingly easily, and they already had a visual on Kallun. They were cleverly hidden behind some nearby crates as Kallun oversaw the as of yet unshipped weapons. From this angle, Alpha couldn't see the symbol of Kallun's "client", but there were an awful lot of them.

The crime lord appeared to be in discussion with another man. He didn't look happy.

"We need more time." said the man.

"This is the excuse of a lazy or incompetent man. Which are you?" Kallun asked.

"Neither." the man replied.

"What I see says otherwise." said Kallun. "Now, tell me. What do you intend to do to solve this problem of ours? These weapons are needed now."

"Why do all the crime lords suddenly need weapons? I thought they were in hiding." the man asked.

"They are. These weapons are not for them." Kallun explained. "My new client is... shall we say different."

"And you think it's wise to do business with this "different" faction? After your previous attack by Helldivers and the fact that they have hunted down nearly all the other crime lords now?"

"After my new client promised me their fullest protection, a profitable business, and they also have a cause I can stand behind? Let me think... yes!"

"I see no solution. The men work day and night, but your "client" requires so much. And the destination... it is a difficult route."

"Were it that you could produce weapons with the same skill as you produce excuses."

"I have done all I can."

"It is not enough!" said Kallun angrily. "My client is not a patient man when it comes to things he has been promised."

"Then perhaps you and your new client ask too much."

"Too much?" said Kallun, his rising temper becoming more obvious. "I gave you everything! Without me, you would still be on the streets living in the sewers."

Even the assistant could tell he'd crossed a line by saying this, and he was beginning to shake a bit with fear.

"All I ask in return was you fill the orders I bring you, and you say my client and I ask too much?!" Kallun nearly shouted. "You dare disrespect me? You dare disrespect him? If he was here, you'd be begging for forgiveness, even as he had you impaled on a spike!"

"Please, Mr Kallun, I meant no insult."

"Then you should've kept your mouth shut!"

Kallun suddenly drew a knife out of his suit and sliced the man's stomach, causing him to stagger back with his clothes now stained with his sown blood.

"No! Stop!" he begged.

"Stop? I'm just getting started!"

The next bit was hard for Alpha to watch, especially without doing anything. But they couldn't' risk blowing their cover yet. If Kallun got away again...

Kallun stabbed and slashed the man several more times. It was any wounded how the poor human was still alive.

"You came into my city, stood before my men, and dared to insult me?!" he yelled, finally finishing the man with several deep stabs to the back.

"YOU… MUST… LEARN… YOUR… PLACE!"

Finally he let he body fall. One of Kallun's guards walked up to move the body, but Kallun stopped him with his cane.

"No. Leave the body." he ordered. He then addressed everyone. "Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Think twice before you tell me something cannot be done. Back to work."

"If we didn't need him alive..." said Saphira angrily.

"I am sorry, Saphira. But we couldn't' risk ruining the plan." said Austin. "Though I am tempted to let you punch him really hard in the face for doing that."

"So what happens now?" Ventra asked.

"We wait. Wait until he's close enough."

Sandra gently took a tranquilizer round from her belt and loaded it into her gun.

As Kallun continued making his way closer and closer, the human readied his shot.

"He's almost in the blind spot. Wait for it..." said Austin.

Sandra tensed herself, ready to fire the second Austin gave the order.

Kallun soon came into view. Just a few seconds later...

"Now!" Austin whispered.

Sandra fired and the tranquiller hit Kallun right on target. With the sedative taking effect immediately, Xun swiftly grabbed him and dragged him behind the crates and out of sight.

Kallun's guards soon noticed that their boss hadn't reappeared.

"Mr Kallun? Mr Kallun!"

Alpha though were long gone now. This time they'd got out without any unexpected surprises.

* * *

Kallun slowly stirred as he awoke. When his vision finally cleared, he found himself looking upon a very familiar, and unwelcome, sight.

"Oh just terrific. You lot again." he sighed angrily.

"Did you really think we'd forgotten you, Kallun?" said Austin. "We never forget."

"I see you brought help this time. Too weak to handle this on your own?" Kallun taunted.

"You'd better shut up, or I'm perfectly willing to let my friend here put an arrow through your kneecap." Austin threatened, indicating to Ventra who had his bow ready.

"You'll pay for this. You and all your kind." Kallun spat.

"It seems you're the one who pays now, Kallun. You'll not profit from suffering any longer." said Saphira.

"You think me some petty death dealer suckling at the breast of war, Justicar?" said Kallun. "A strange target, don't you think? Why me when so many others do the same?"

"You believe yourself different then?" Saphira asked.

"Oh, but I am. For I intended to serve a far nobler cause than mere profit... just like them."

"Them? Who are you working for?!" Xun asked.

"I was to be but a piece, a man with a part to play. You'll come to know them soon enough, just as they already know you. They've not taken kindly to what you've done." Kallun smiled cruelly.

"Why do you speak as though they already know?" Austin asked. "Who are they?!"

"You're wasting your time, Helldiver. You'll not be getting anything out of me, and nor will your Arkanes. It is already too late for me."

What happened next literally made everyone jump back, including Saphira. Kallun's head practically exploded as sniper shot hit his head and went right through, leaving a big gaping hole where his left eye had just been, and blood pouring from it all over the place.

"Where did that shot come from?!"

Everyone looked to one of the roofs visible out of the windows. Out of the largest, they suddenly spotted her. None other than the Helldiver Slayer herself stood on top of the nearest and furthest building. She took a moment to stare at the Helldivers, wondering if she should kill them too, then she simply left.

"Should we go after her?" Xun asked.

"We'd be wasting our time. She'll be long gone by the time we get there." Austin sighed.

"One day soon we're going to get even with her too." Kraan snarled.

"Doesn't make sense though. Kallun and T'eenar both hired her. Why kill one of her clients?" Alaara asked, puzzled.

"They're probably not her only clients." said Austin seriously.

* * *

As the Slayer descended the stairs of the building, she opened up a comm channel to her... anonymous client.

"It's done. Kallun is dead." she simply said.

* * *

With Kallun dead, only one crime lord was left, apart from the Kingpin himself. This time, Alpha were now all the more determined to bring her in alive. Without her, they risked losing their chance of finding the Kingpin and ending this. Kallun's' death had already decreased their chances. This last one was their best shot. There was still the possibility that the Arkanes would be able to get enough information out of the others without the last two, but that wasn't a definite, and both Alpha and the Council weren't willing to take that risk.

Since she had only taken to hiding in an old safe house, it had made her rather easy to find thanks to Xun's contact. With the plan all set up, Alpha readied to breach.

"Alright, everyone. You know the plan. We do this by the book and this time we take her alive." said Austin.

"Just say the word, Commander." Alaara.

Just as Austin was about to give the word however, a sudden explosion inside the safe house caused everyone to jump back in surprise.

"What the fuck?" said Dash.

"Let's get in there!" said Austin.

Leena kicked the door in and everyone filed in. When they did however, they found a rather unexpected sight. The entire place was littered with dead bodies and almost tons of blood.

Noticing the body of the crime lord among them, Saphira hurried up to her and checked for a pulse. Nothing.

"Dammit! She's dead. They all are." Saphira cursed.

"I don't understand. How can someone take them all down without us knowing until the last minute and then just vanish?" said Leena.

"You think it's the Slayer? This does look like a bounty hunter's work." Xun asked.

"I don't think so. This is way too messy and violent for her. This is more like something Kraan would do. No offense." said Dash.

"None taken." said Kraan.

"Shepard!"

Everyone turned to see what Sandra had noticed. A large Krogan wearing the silver Krogan Warlord armour was stood on the upper levels, which were littered with even more dead bodies of ... security forces. Only one was still alive, and the Krogan had a firm hold over him.

Despite the human's struggle however, it was no use. The Krogan then suddenly flung him right over the edge, plummeting to his death. The Krogan looked at them for a minute before turning his back and disappearing into the smoke, leaving Alpha both confused and surprised.

"A bounty hunter." said Kraan. "He did this all by himself too.

"Who the hell was that?" said Ventra.

"I don't know. But I have a feeling that we'll find out very soon." said Dash dramatically.

* * *

The Kingpin sat at his desk, awaiting the call he was eager to hear. About 2 years ago he'd thought that perhaps he and the other crime lords could hide from the Helldivers, but now... now it seemed it was impossible to hide from them forever. This meddlesome Alpha Squad had already taken down most of them and had thus forced Kingpin's hand to tie up loose ends. He had been forced to hire Urdnot Thrax to eliminate the last crime lord. Without her and with Kallun also assassinated, he was now certain that the Helldivers would never be able to find him.

And then it happened, the incoming call activating showing a holo of Thrax's face.

 _"It's done."_ said Thrax.

"And the Helldivers?" the Kingpin asked.

"Now without a crime lord to interrogate." Thrax replied.

"Good. Without her, I think it's safe to assume their danger to me has passed."

 _"That's what you think."_ the Krogan thought. "I'll expect my payment in the usual manner."

"100 million as agreed. You've done well, Thrax." said the Kingpin.

With that, the call ended.

"Believe me, Kingpin, I'm just getting started." said Thrax. "Brace yourself, human. There's a storm coming."

* * *

**Some thanks to jaffa3 for creating the character fo Thrax and suggesting ideas for future chapters as well.**

**You might not have noticed, but I also included a special cameo from the true creator of the Helldivers himself. I think he deserves it. Without him, none of this would've been possible. :)**

**Now, next chapter will be the last one in this act of Origins. After that, it'll be the 3rd Act.**

**Also to warn you in advance, next chapter will include a sex scene.**

**Until next time. See you soon! :)**


	11. Chapter 11, Crime Does Not Pay

**Done at last!**

**So sorry that it took me so long to finish this. Hope none of you began to think I'd given up. If there's one thing I'll never do, it's leave a story uncompleted.**

**Anyway, this the final Crime Lord one. After this, we'll finally be moving on to a different part of the story.**

**Hope this at least was worth the wait, and I'd like to thank all who contributed to this.**

**Warning also, this chapter contains two sex scenes.**

* * *

**YEAR 3, The Criminal Element**

**2175: 3 1/2 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**12 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"This was it. The moment it had all been building up to. However, it turned out we weren't the only ones after the Kingpin, nor did we realize the bigger game that was afoot. But above all, something else that only **2** of us would know about for a while was beginning..."_

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Crime Does Not Pay**

This was it. This was what all these past 2 years had been building up to. Only the Kingpin was left now.

Despite that two of the crime lords had died, the Arkanes it seemed had been very persistent in their interrogation of the other crime lords to the point where they'd finally been able to find out where he was.

Chances are though that he would not go down easily. Already, as Alpha began planning their infiltration of the Kingpin's tower, they could tell it wouldn't' be easy.

"So, I doubt this one is going to be any easier than the others." said Saphira.

"Even if he may believe we're no longer a threat, I doubt he'll have relaxed at all." Xun agreed.

"Kingpin's office is on the top floor, but the building is heavily guarded and fortified and their security checks and very thorough. It'd be impossible to get in there without some form of detection." Leena explained as she brought up a holo map of the building.

"How thorough are we talking exactly?" Austin asked.

"All the way up to the forty fifth floor. The last five though... bit of an unknown." Leena replied.

"This isn't a fortress. There has to be some way in." Austin thought to himself.

"Ventilation system perhaps?" Kraan suggested.

"Too small, even for Dash." Leena replied.

Everyone expected Dash to speak any second with some kind of bad joke. To their surprise however, he remained absolutely silent.

"Really? No jokes about that?" Ventra asked in surprise.

"Nah. Too easy." Dash shrugged.

"What about the roof?" Sandra asked, changing back to the subject at hand.

"Unguarded... but it's protected by anti-air units. We couldn't get the dropship close enough." said Leena.

"Maybe we don't' have too..." said Alexa, finally speaking.

"Alexa?"

"What's the detection range on these guns?" the pilot asked.

"4,900 feet." Leena replied.

"I think I'm beginning to see where this is going." said Austin intriguingly.

"If we position the dropship way out of sensor and gun range, you might be able to drop in on them." said Alexa.

"At that height we risk causing a crater from our fall though." said Xun.

"That's why I propose you use parachutes. Slow your descent once you're close enough, and then work your way inside." said Alexa.

"You know... that just might work." Austin agreed.

"The top five floors are armoured though and have no windows. The roof also has no access. The only way we can get inside is to abseil down to the forty fourth floor and work our way up." said Leena.

"That may not be all bad actually. Assuming these blueprints are correct, the alarm system can be accessed on the floor right below. If one of us infiltrates there and disables the alarm system, we can work our way up stealthily without them putting the whole building on alert." said Alaara, pointing to a highlighted area of the holo map.

"Normally I'd call that a bad idea. But hell, I'm all about bad ideas." said Kraan.

"Sounds like a plan." Austin nodded.

"What about Saphira, Shepard? Our parachutes are only designed for Helldivers." Xun asked.

"She'll have to share with one of us." Austin replied.

"Me!" said Dash, quickly putting his hand up. He quickly noticed however that everyone was giving him a "you must be joking" look.

"Alright, fine." he sighed.

"You can share mine, Justicar." said Kraan.

"Thank you." said Saphira.

"Okay then. Let's just run this through properly so we've got it straight. We jump from 5,000 feet, just outside of the anti-air gun's detection range, land on the roof and abseil down to floor 45 while one of us abseils down 1 extra floor, cuts through and disables the alarm system. We then regroup and work our way up to the 50th floor." said Austin.

"I'll handle the alarm system. I'm the tech and hacker expert anyway." said Leena.

"My thoughts exactly." said Alaara.

"What can we expect on our way up?" Dash asked.

"Unknown." Leena sighed.

"Still, it's a plan." said Sandra optimistically.

"Alright. Alexa, have the dropship prepped for tomorrow. Everyone else get plenty of rest. I need you all fully focused for tomorrow. Dismissed!" said Austin.

As everyone left for their own rooms to tend to their own business, Austin suddenly noticed his omni tool bleeping. He'd just received a message.

_Heard you were in the neighbourhood recently. Come to this spot and make sure you're alone. I think we have some catching up to do, and I still owe you._

_A Friend._

The message had a picture of what looked like an old alleyway.

He knew where that was, but still... Austin had no idea who this so called "friend" was. For all he knew it could be a trap. Since his squad had enough to worry about, Austin decided he'd handle this himself. Last thing the rest of his team needed was a distraction.

* * *

Austin arrived at the meeting place. He still had his weapons and all his armour on, just in case this "friend" ended up being a little unfriendly.

For a few long seconds he looked around. Perhaps he was early and the person hadn't got here yet, or perhaps they were in the shadows... waiting.

"I had a feeling you'd come in your armour. Can't say I blame you for being cautious." said a voice.

Austin immediately whirled round, his hand automatically going for the handle of his saw a figure walk out of the shadows. To his surprise, and also relief, it was an Asari. And not just any Asari, it was none other than his old... "Acquaintance" The Azure Angel.

"Oh, it's you." he said in surprise, relaxing and letting his hand drop from his sword. "Nyarra, was it?"

The Asari nodded.

"I must say, of all the people that message could've been from, you're probably the last I expected." said Austin.

"And why's that?" Nyarra smiled.

"Well... I just didn't think we'd run into each other again. Especially since you got your revised contract. How's that worked out for you by the way?" Austin asked.

"Better than I think either of us intended. Business for me has literally soared. I now **own** the club where I work. Occasionally I still dance though, and now I only sleep with people if I really like them or want to. Or unless they pay outrageous amounts of credits." Nyarra replied.

"Sounds like our help has really worked out for you then."

"I can never thank you enough, Commander Shepard, believe me."

"So anyway, why did you call me here? I doubt it was for something as simple as catch up." Austin replied.

"Take off your helmet a minute." Nyarra simply requested.

"Okay..." said the Helldiver hesitantly as he removed his helmet.

To his surprise, Nyarra suddenly pulled him into a deep kiss.

"Not that I'm complaining but... what the hell was that for?" he asked when they finally broke apart for air.

"I never properly thanked you." Nyarra smiled seductively. "Now how about we go back to my place and I show you how truly grateful I am? It'd give us a chance to catch up even more."

"Look... it's not really the best time, Nyarra. I have an important mission tomorrow."

"Well then, I'm sure another night with me will get you plenty of rest."

"Well..."

"I insist, Shepard."

There was a pause before Austin finally replied.

"Oh very well." he sighed.

"Come with me then."

* * *

Back at base meanwhile, Sandra was busy checking all the comm equipment, making sure it was fully operational for tomorrow. Just as she was starting to finish up, she heard the door open and Alaara walked in.

"Hey Sandra." she said.

"Alaara." Sandra nodded. The Helldiver though failed to notice a bit of the floor sticking out slightly, and her foot caught on it, causing her to trip and drop some of her comm equipment on the table on the floor.

"Oh blin!" she swore in Russian.

"Busy night?" Alaara asked as she helped Sandra gather up the equipment.

"Just making sure everything's ready for the mission." said Sandra.

"You know, you really shouldn't take yourself so seriously all the time. You should learn to relax more. Try and enjoy yourself." said Alaara.

As she handed a last bit of the equipment to Sandra, she felt her hand brush the human's. For some reason, the feel of Sandra's skin made Alaara's mind flashback to a few months ago during that party when they'd kissed to avoid detection. It actually brought back some rather fond memories of how it had felt. The Asari was unable to deny that she'd suddenly started to feel rather horny after that. Add to the fact that she was a little bored given the long waiting period before the mission and the fact that she found it rather hard to relax without previously having exhausted herself with sex. A bizarre thought started to come to her mind. She'd never previously thought of Sandra in a sexual kind of way till now. She was a friend obviously, and although Alaara had flirted with her before, she hadn't truly meant anything by it. It was her nature to be seductive and teasing. Tonight though... something felt different.

"By "enjoying yourself" do you mean sex? Because if so, I'm not surprised to hear you say..." said Sandra, but she was suddenly interrupted when Alaara suddenly grabbed the front of her uniform.

"You talk too much, sweetheart!" said the Asari.

The second the last word left her word, Alaara suddenly pulled Sandra into a kiss. Alaara half expected Sandra to really push her off and slap her this time, especially since they weren't' trying to hide from anyone. To her surprise however, Sandra did completely the opposite. The human actually started to not only kiss her back but also hugged one arm around her back while the other grabbed her behind. Alaara almost pulled away herself because of the sudden surprise. But her arousal and urges quickly took over.

Alaara almost immediately picked up the human in her arms and tried her best to maneuverer them into her room, despite the fact that both their eyes were closed and they were still kissing. Alaara could even swear she was feeling tongue. She'd never thought Sandra would ever be like this. Goddess only knows what she would be like in bed, and Alaara intended to find out tonight.

Managing to get a few quick glances in-between kisses, Alaara managed to get the door open and she immediately let them drop onto the bed. Sandra only seemed to intensify with her kissing and she even started to grab onto a bit of Alaara's uniform and tried to pull on it. Obviously the human didn't have as much experience in trying to get a partner naked quickly during sex as Alaara did, but the Asari did have to admit there was plenty of fire in this human. Despite that this was probably only a one night stand for the both of them, Alaara had a feeling this would be one she would not soon forget.

Rather surprisingly for Sandra, Alaara managed to get her naked faster than she would've ever thought possible. A quick bit of biotics and she was naked before she even realised her clothes had gone.

Alaara then temporarily stopped kissing Sandra and sat up slightly in order to pull her own uniform top off. The sight of the Asari's tits was something the entire squad had gotten used to over the past few years. Yet despite that, Sandra almost found herself hypnotised by the large blue orbs in front of her. In fairness, none of Alpha (expect perhaps Shepard) had even seen them this close up.

The Asari almost immediately resumed her kiss, surprising Sandra. That however quickly changed when Sandra decided she wanted to be the one who had the element of surprise. She suddenly flipped them both over so that she was now on top and immediately started to finger Alaara.

The Asari's surprised moans only helped spur her on. Never before did she ever think she'd see an Asari screaming under her touch rather than the other way around.

"You're... so... much... better... at this... than I thought!" Alaara moaned, her teeth gritted as Sandra increased her pace. She really was so surprised at this. Both by how forward Sandra was being with this, the fact that she'd turned the tables just like that, and above all how surprising the human's touch was. It was unlike any touch she'd felt before during sex. It was different, her hands felt strong, yet they had no indication of toughness or the sense that they had done a lot of fighting and using heavy, cold, metallic equipment, some of which might have been dirty. It was unbelievable.

"How's it feel to be on the receiving end for once?" Sandra smiled.

Before Alaara could give a proper answer, she suddenly felt the imminent feeling of an orgasm come out of nowhere and get to the point where it couldn't be stopped.

"OH GODDESS!"

Alaara screamed as she released, still panting heavily as she slowly came down from the euphoria. Sandra gently slowed down her fingering until she finally stopped. The human was tempted to taste what Alaara squirted on her fingers, but ultimately she couldn't bring herself to do it. Alaara it seemed though had been able to tell that was what she'd been thinking and swiftly grabbed the human's fingers and licked them clean.

"You'll probably still be tasting me at some point tonight anyway." the Asari panted, a new primal and animal look in her eyes.

With that, Alaara pounced on Sandra, fully intending to return the favour... and then some.

* * *

Austin was definitely treated to a rather surprising sight as he walked into Nyarra's room.

She'd certainly changed things a great deal. Her furniture looked new and more like the sort of thing rich people had. The fact that she now owned the club where she danced and had no doubt gained a huge amount of money now obviously meant she was very rich.

The bed though looked the same as the one she'd had before. Most likely she'd felt that she didn't want to spend loads of credits on a brand new bed when it was probably going to have an awful lot of sex in it.

"Nice!" Austin said admirably. "You've definitely come a long way, especially in just one year."

"And I owe it all to you." Nyarra smiled. "Now then, you get comfortable."

She then gently pulled Austin by the collar and threw him into the bed. "I'll just slip into something... more entertaining."

With that Nyarra disappeared into another room. Before Austin had a chance to even consider if he should take his clothes off, Nyarra emerged back out wearing a most surprising outfit.

She appeared to be wearing black stockings with long thigh boots, along with a corset that barely hid her large tits and crotchless panties with straps like a thong. She had black sleeves on her arms as well. Undeniably a dominatrix outfit.

"Well, what do you think?" Nyarra asked as she gave a little twirl to give Austin a full view. Austin was unable to resist staring at Nyarra's ass, which was fully exposed by the thong part of the outfit. He already started to feel himself hardening at the sight.

"A surprise, I'll admit… but not in a bad way." The Helldiver smiled slyly.

"Now, before we start, I want to make it clear who's in charge this time." said Nyarra seductively as she got on top.

"Wait... I'm not really into that whole handcuffs and whip thing." said Austin hesitantly.

"I wouldn't force anything on you." said Nyarra.

Convinced, Austin relaxed.

"How you gonna make sure I do as I'm told though if you're in charge this, as you claim? he asked challengingly.

"Simple really." Nyarra replied, gently reaching up until her finger touched an exposed part of his neck.

Austin then suddenly felt a massive jolt shoot through his body, almost like a rather harmless but somewhat painful electric shock as Nyarra used her biotics. This reminded Austin so much of what Alaara had once done to Leena to wake her up. Was this the same?

Regardless though, despite that this technique hadn't left him with any injury, it had stung. That certainly told him that Nyarra was serious about this. She would punish him if he didn't obey her. She was being the dominant one this time.

"Ow. Okay... consider me warned." Austin panted, still a tiny bit in shock over what Nyarra had just done. Now he had an idea how Leena must have felt when Alaara used her biotics to cause a shock that resuscitated her.

"Good boy." Nyarra smiled. "Now... strip!"

Preferring to avoid another biotic shock, Austin began taking his clothes off while Nyarra continued watching while knelt in front of him, gently touching herself as she watched. She even licked her lips when she saw the Helldiver's muscles again.

Finally, Austin was left in just his boxers. Since he was unsure if Nyarra meant those too, or wanted him to keep them on so she could do that bit herself, he left them on. That however ended up being a bit of a mistake as Nyarra suddenly gave him another shock.

"Those too." she said. "Don't go shy on me now."

Simply nodded, Austin slid off his boxers, exposing his currently flaccid member. He noticed Nyarra lick her lips again as she looked at it.

"What now then?" Austin asked, a tiny bit hesitantly.

"Lie down." Nyarra commanded.

Austin did so.

"Keep your hands where they are. You are not to touch me unless I say so. Understand?" Nyarra instructed as she knelt on top of Austin and gently took his cock in her hand.

Austin simply nodded.

For a moment, he thought Nyarra was going to take it into her mouth. But it turned out he was wrong. Instead, she surprisingly activated her biotics. What happened next definitely took Austin by surprise. He felt his cock go rock hard instantly in Nyarra's hands and it now stood completely erect, almost looking dark and purple from the amount of blood flooded into it and the veins practically bulging as his penis throbbed with ach heartbeat.

"There. That should keep you nice and hard for tonight." she smiled.

"Didn't know Asari could do that." said Austin, still coming down from the pleasure and surprise of what had just happened.

Nyarra simply smiled. She then opened her mouth and gave the head of his cock a long lick, electing a pleasured moan from Austin. Now she took his cock into her mouth, her tongue instantly began to swirl around its head.

It seemed as if she'd got even better since last time. She now seemed to be able to bring him twice as much pleasure as before. Her head then began to bob up and down as she took him in and out of her.

"Damn, that feels good!" he moaned.

Nyarra didn't say anything and simply went back down. This time though, she took him all the way until she reached the very base of his cock. She then let just a tiny bit out and touched it with her fingers and once again activated her biotics. For a moment, Austin worried she was gonna shock him again for talking. To his relief though, he was wrong. Instead, without warning, he suddenly found himself having an uncontrollable orgasm as wave after wave of cum shot from his dick and into Nyarra's waiting throat. With each large spurt she swallowed and sucked.

What felt like almost a minute passed before Austin finally felt his orgasm subside and Nyarra swallowed the last of his cum. She then slowly pulled herself off, letting his cockhead out of her mouth with a wet pop.

"See, Shepard? I can now make you cum whenever I want." she smiled, licking the taste of his shaft off her lips slightly.

"That was... I never knew I had that much in me." Austin panted.

"And I hope you've got more still left in you, because we're not done until I not only say so, but I've had my release too." said Nyarra, gently squeezing his cock a little tighter.

"So... what now?" Austin asked.

Nyarra gently reached up and unclipped the straps that had been holding up the part of the corset covering her tits.

Austin simply remained where he was, not daring to touch them in case she shocked him again.

Noticing the Helldiver's hesitation, Nyarra simply smiled.

"Go ahead. Suck 'em." she said seductively.

Austin sat up gently and took both the Asari's tits in his hands and took on of her nipples into his mouth. The Asari moaned in pleasure and brought both her hands up to ruffle the Helldiver's hair as he sucked.

"Ah yeah!" she cried in ecstasy. "Now, time for the main event. Stick your cock in my Azure and fuck me."

Austin lined his shaft up while Nyarra readjusted her position so she was right above him. Since Nyarra clearly wanted him to thrust in rather than her plunge down, Austin gently moved his hips up until his cockhead slowly went in.

"Mmmmmmmm! Either you've gotten even bigger, or I've grown tighter!" Nyarra moaned.

"Maybe even both." Austin also moaned as he once again felt the pleasure of the Asari's azure. The tightness, the wetness... it was heaven.

It was then that Nyarra became the dominatrix again. Putting both her hands on Austin's chest, she forced him back down, including his pelvis with his cock still inside her. There was a new look in her eyes, a wild and animal look. She then placed both his hands at his side.

"Keep them there! You can only touch me again when I say so!" she panted.

With that, she started to ride him really hard and fast. It was almost torture for Austin not to touch the Asari. Nyarra meanwhile was practically screaming as she rode the Helldiver's cock. True she'd had many before after Alpha had helped her, yet still she found this to be her favourite. So long, so thick, so juicy, and attached to one of the most handsome and charming human male's she'd known. If this Helldiver ever got a love interest, she'd definitely envy them.

* * *

Sandra gently yawned as she woke up. She quickly noticed she wasn't in her own room or bed, and the memories of last night's so called "one night stand" quickly came back.

Sandra had to admit, even after all that, she still didn't have any regrets. She'd practically grown accustomed to Alaara's constant flirting now, but up till now she'd never thought she'd give into them.

She then heard Alaara stir as she woke up from an obviously... sexual dream she'd been having.

"Mmmm, just like that, baby!" she moaned. "Yeah, you like that, don't you?"

The Asari then suddenly blinked as her eyes readjusted. She then noticed the naked human lying next to her.

"Well I'll be dammed. It wasn't a dream." she said.

"Well, they always say you never forget your first time, and admittedly that was my first time with a... well, woman-like figure." said Sandra.

"I have to admit actually, that was... different." said Alaara. "Never thought I'd say this, but that's the first time I've ever felt weird after sex."

"It's one thing to do it with someone, but it's another to do it with someone you know." said Sandra as she sat up in the bed, letting the covers drop from her body. Alaara was unable to tear her eyes off the human's naked back.

Something about it was just so...

Well, it was hard to think of the right words, really.

"Still, that's one way to work off stress I suppose." Alaara smiled, lying on her front in seductive pose as she watched Sandra starting to get dressed.

"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, Alaara, you are nice but... I don't feel that way about you." said Sandra.

"Glad we're on the same wave length. I was slightly concerned you'd think about bringing feelings into this." said Alaara.

"No. This was just for fun." Sandra agreed.

"Guess now you know why I've been trying to flirt with you so much." said Alaara, still unable to stop staring.

"Yes, I suppose I do now." said Sandra, trying to ignore the sexy Asari's undeniably hypnotic gaze, and the fact that the blue alien was still fully naked and not making any effort whatsoever to cover up. "Anyway, we'd better get ready. We're heading out in 20 minutes."

"For what it's worth, you've got one hell of a sexy body, Sandra. I'm actually gonna miss it." Alaara smiled as she finally worked on getting her own clothes on.

"And I know this isn't going to be the last time I'll see yours." said Sandra, causing a little chuckle from Alaara. "You have nice breasts though, that I will admit."

"You're too kind." the Asari smiled. Unable to help herself, she landed a quick slap on Sandra's behind.

* * *

Austin gently woke to find Nyarra already awake. She was still naked unsurprisingly and she was quick to notice that the Helldiver she'd just had sex with a second time had finally woken up.

"So, how was it?" she asked, gently lying down next to him again, unable to resist catching a few stares at his muscles.

"I have to admit it was... different to what I'm used to." Austin replied.

"I knew you would like it." Nyarra smiled proudly. She then handed Austin what looked like a credit chit.

"What's this?" he asked.

"The money you paid me last time. After all you've done for me, I think it's only fair I actually do repay you." said Nyarra.

"Keep it, Nyarra." said Austin, gently closing her hand around the credits again. "You need it more than I do."

"You don't mean that." Nyarra smiled

"No seriously, you probably do need it more than Me." said Austin. "I make a lot more money than that as a Helldiver every day, so your business will definitely get more out of it than I will."

"You truly have a generous heart. Why is the galaxy not full of people more like you?" Nyarra smiled.

"Hell if I know." Austin replied as he got up and started getting dressed.

The Asari simply remained on the bed and watched as Austin redressed and settled back into his armour.

"Good luck, for whatever it's worth." she said.

"Thanks." Austin nodded.

With that, he left. There was no need for goodbyes. The Helldiver had a feeling this wouldn't be the last he'd see of the Azure Angel.

* * *

Everyone remained silent as they waited for the dropship to reach its destination. They were making sure they remained fully focused on the mission ahead. No doubt they would need every bit of that focus. There was no telling what the Kingpin had in store for them.

One thing that was catching everyone's attention was the fact that Kraan seemed to be even more armed to the teeth than usual. In addition to the various ammo packs he already had strapped to various parts of his armour, he now also had two additional weapons.

"Did I miss something, Kraan? Are we going to war or something?" Xun asked confusedly.

"I'm heavy weapons guy. What do you expect?" Kraan replied.

"What's this?" Leena asked, pointing to one of the large weapons on Kraan's left shoulder and nearly touching it.

"Don't touch it!" said Kraan, recoiling slightly. He then took the massive weapon off his back and it unfolded into what was undeniably some kind of rocket launcher. It even had the ornament of a wolf placed on it. "This? This is my rocket launcher. It was raised by wolves."

"And this?" Xun asked, indicating to the large gun on the back of Kraan's waist.

"Grenade launcher." said Kraan. He then also took his massive minigun off his back. Recently he'd managed to make a few new modifications to the weapon. The gun now had an automatic aiming system for targets and only required input form it's user to fire. The aiming was done through use of an articulated arm attached to the user's left hip which steered it to aim at the target's centre of mass. This also made it easier for the user to carry since the gun was unbelievably heavy, even for a Krogan. He'd also fitted a retractable shield on the inner side of the gun that was designed to protect the shooter. Since it was attached and wired directly into the minigun, which in turn was attached and wired into the Krogan's armour, his helmet allowed him to see through it, allowing him to fire as much as he wanted and be fully concealed behind it.

"Do you really need all this stuff though? Even for what we're about to face, it seems a little excessive." said Xun.

"I believe there's a saying you humans sometimes have. Something along the lines of "Why the fuck not?" said Kraan rhetorically.

"He does have a point." Sandra admitted.

Even I gotta admit he looks pretty badass." said Dash. "Guns that size... I would not wanna mess with this dude."

"Damn right you wouldn't." the Krogan smiled.

 _"We're approaching the drop off point."_ said Alexa.

Everyone stood up and made sure their parachutes were as secure as they could make them. Austin meanwhile handed Saphira some goggles

"Make you sure you keep these on at all times, Saphira." he advised. "You don't wanna get something in your eye on the way down, especially at the speeds we'll be going."

Saphira nodded and strapped them on. At the same time, she secured herself to Kraan's front.

"Don't get any funny ideas." she warned.

Kraan simply nodded.

Austin nodded to Alexa who opened the doors. The wind almost immediately howled as it blew inside. Austin hoped Saphira was warm enough in her armour, because he had a feeling that at this altitude in the still very early hours of the morning, wind like this would be very cold.

From the looks of things however the Justicar seemed fine.

"Everyone ready?!" Austin yelled.

"READY!" everyone replied together.

"Right... In 3... 2..."

But Austin was interrupted when Xun suddenly jumped out ahead of everyone else.

"I hate it when she does that." Austin sighed. "Go!"

"Geronimo!" Dash yelled.

Everyone jumped.

Even from inside their armour, they could feel the force of the air rushing right at them as they descended at an incredible speed.

After several long minutes the clouds finally cleared, revealing the view of the city below them. The tallest of the buildings, which was their target, also loomed into view. At this, everyone pulled the chutes and simply glided slowly towards the roof.

* * *

"Well, that was fun." Sandra sighed as everyone landed and discarded their chutes.

"Alright, Saphira?" Austin asked.

"I'm fine." Saphira nodded.

The Justicar still needed to remain strapped to Kraan until they got into the building since the repelling liens were also only designed for Helldivers.

Leena meanwhile had already clipped on and was ready to abseil down.

"Leena, good luck." said Austin.

Leena simply nodded and dropped.

After a drop of a few floors, Leena finally stopped and began cutting through the window using her Omni tool. No way were any of Alpha going to smash the glass and go in guns blazing this time.

After a few long seconds, Leena finally had a full circle cut and was able to carefully remove it using a suction device. She then gently swung in and unclipped from her line. From the schematics they'd managed to obtain, the alarm controls were just down the hall from the room she was in, but even there she had to not be noticed. Even with her cloak on, there was still the risk of her being spotted if someone got too close and saw the camouflaged figure of her.

Before opening the door, the Quarian first took out the small drone spider once again and had it crawl under the door. From the feed she was getting, the coast looked clear. Very gently, she pushed the door open, shotgun at the ready just in case. After a few cautious seconds, the Quarian finally allowed herself to relax, convinced that the coast was indeed clear.

The Quarian walked up to the control panel and opened it. Unsurprisingly, the tech they were using was hardly top of the line and was software she was very familiar with. A quick Omni tool hack and a few tweaks, and there went the alarm.

* * *

Alpha simply waited patiently to hear the words. Sure enough, Leena's voice could then be heard through their comms.

 _"The alarm's disabled, sir."_ said Leena.

"Roger that, Leena." Austin replied.

Giving the hand single to the rest of the team, he and the others abseiled down and began cutting through as well.

It went smoothly for everyone except Kraan, who had a little trouble getting his harness and Saphira dethatched from him. Once Saphira managed to get free Kraan also managed to get free of his harness. However, he completely lost his balance and ended up falling right on Dash.

Sandra, Xun and Alaara had to do their best not laugh. Even Ventra was struggling to keep it in.

"Ow. You couldn't fall six inches to the left?" Dash complained.

"Next time I'll sit on you." Kraan warned.

"Give me strength." Austin sighed.

* * *

"Alright, the elevator's just around this corner." Said Leena.

As everyone rounded the corner however, they suddenly found themselves facing an entire small army of guard.

"Oh." Leena added.

"Wrong floor?" Dash tried to say innocently.

All the guards immediately raised their guns.

"Hell yeah! Boom time!" Kraan smiled.

The guards all opened fire, causing all but Kraan to retreat behind cover. A few shots hit Kraan, but they simply ricocheted off his armour. The mechanical arm which fixed the heavy iron gun to Kraan's body then moved, taking the gun with it until it was now in a position where Kraan could just take hold of it. The mounted shield unfolded in front of Kraan as well, now protecting him from any further rounds.

Some of the gunfire actually stopped as the guards noticed Kraan was about to return fire.

"My turn."

The moment Kraan's finger touched the trigger, the gun let loose firing over 166 rounds a second.

Kraan even took it from the next level as he used his left hand to then take out his grenade launcher as well, all while still keeping his right hand on the minigun.

"YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" he yelled over the loud noise of gunfire, explosions and screams

"Did you put something in his food, Dash?" said Austin, ducking to avoid a stray shot that hit the cover he was behind.

"I felt he needed a little... boost." Dash replied.

"Waste of ammunition if you ask Me." said Ventra, pausing quickly to fire one arrow which hit one of the guards straight in the chest, killing him instantly. "If you can't do it with one bullet or arrow, don't do it all."

Sandra then overheard a call on the comm systems.

"The rest of security's been notified!" she said.

"Go after the Kingpin before he evacuates! I've got this! GO!" Kraan yelled.

With Austin leading, all of Alpha continued on their journey to the upper levels while Kraan provided covering fire.

"Come and get some, ya little bitch!" he yelled.

* * *

The rest of Alpha entered the next room only to find a somewhat unexpected sight. There were dead bodies of more guards all over the place. This looked familiar.

"Guys? Do you think it's...?" Ventra asked.

"Yeah. Stay alert, people." said Austin.

The second he said that, another bloodied body was suddenly thrown from around a corner, and then the body's killer came around the corner as well... the exact same Krogan who beat them to the last crime lord.

The second the Krogan noticed the Helldivers, he immediately charged right at them, causing them all to scatter. Leena though stood her ground and actually managed to absorb most of the Krogan's charge.

"Think we're getting off on the wrong foot here." she grunted as she pushed against the Krogan and managed to a deliver a kick to his stomach.

"I was fighting Rachni when you humans killed people by throwing rocks at them. Don't think for a second that you can take me out." the Krogan growled.

The Krogan attacked again by swinging his war hammer. Leena managed to dodge to the side and drew her combat knife. This time ready, she managed to parry the Krogan's second strike with the knife. Despite her muscle mass, a swift movement of her arm allowed her to then swipe at the Krogan and she definitely felt the knife cut some flesh. It was only a very faint cut in the neck, but it was a hit nonetheless.

The Krogan rolled as he avoided a swing from Leena's fist. The muscled Quarian however was quick to whirl round, and in the process threw the knife directly at the Krogan. The knife spun as it flew and ended up carving through a piece of the Krogan's armour and embedded itself directly in the right side of his chest, drawing a bit of blood.

The Krogan emitted a slight grunt from the knife's impact, but remained unaffected by the pain of it in his chest due to his redundant nervous system. As Leena pulled out her gun, the Krogan threw a grenade at her feet. The Quarian only noticed a little too late as the grenade hit the floor and exploded, sending her flying and causing her to hit a nearby pillar.

Before the Krogan could finish her off though, the rest of the squad then attacked, firing their guns in full force.

"Attack!" Austin yelled.

"We're gonna fucking die!" said Dash, desperately firing in the hopes his shots would bring this unstoppable Krogan.

"Less bitching, more shooting!" said Sandra.

Though most shots hit him, they either bounced off his armour, or he simply ignored them as they embedded in his skin.

The Krogan then did a mighty jump, firing a few shotgun shots while in mid-air. Alpha avoided these shots, but that wasn't the only trick the Krogan ad up his sleeve. Just as he started to come down, he then drew what was undeniably a Warhammer from his back and smashes it into the ground upon landing. Alpha was lucky to have all jumped back out of the way in time as the weapon hit the floor.

Since this was now up close and with melee weapons, Austin did the same, swapping his assault rifle for his sword. As he attacked however, the Krogan quickly countered the attack and knocked him away with another swing. He then turned to Ventra just as the Turian fired an arrow. The Krogan brought his hammer up just in time for the arrow to bounce harmlessly off. Before he could attack back however, he was suddenly distracted when he felt Dash jump onto his back. It was a rather poor attempt though. With one swift move of his arm, the Krogan threw Dash off of him, right into Xun. In the process though, the Scout managed to grab his Warhammer and he lost grip of it. Still that didn't' stop the Krogan though. Right as Ventra tried to attack again, the Krogan quickly delivered a hard punch first to the stomach and then an upper cut to the face which caused Ventra to fall on his back. The Turian managed to fire another arrow as the Krogan grabbed his foot, but it missed. Using all his strength, the Krogan then threw Ventra right into the rest of the team.

Only Austin was left. Right as the Krogan turned to him however, the Helldiver was quickly up and he thrust forward. The Krogan failed to react fast enough and the sword stabbed right into his left shoulder, causing him to stagger back slightly from the blow. Still though this barely even seemed to affect the Krogan. He delivered several swift punches to Austin, knocking him to the ground and then pulled the sword out of his shoulder. Despite the significant bleeding though, he barely even gave the impression that it was affecting him. Krogan regenerated fairly quickly after all.

"Kraan, we could use some help here. Get your fat ass over her now!" Dash yelled into his comm.

Sure enough, just as the Krogan bounty hunter was about to stomp on Austin's' head, Kraan suddenly burst through the wall and head-butted the other Krogan, sending him flying a few feet. Clearly angry at this, the Krogan got back up and readied for another fight. Kraan simply cracked his knuckles.

"Come on then, bitch. Make my day." he said challengingly.

The Krogan charged Kraan first causing him to tackle the Helldiver to the ground. Kraan though was quick to return the sudden attack with a kick which knocked the normal Krogan off him.

Kraan had to admit, whoever this Krogan bounty hunter was, he had to be fairly old by Krogan standards. Despite that he was facing a Helldiver; this bounty hunter packed one hell of punch. Hell, he'd managed to tackle Kraan to the ground. No easy task, even for another Krogan.

The bounty hunter was quick to get back on his feet and resume the fight. The two Krogan wrestled fiercely with each other. While Kraan was resorting to brute force and the strength of his armour to try and take down his opponent, the bounty hunter was relying more on trying to pin his opponent to the ground.

Despite how hard Kraan was hitting, still he didn't seem to make any huge difference. The bounty hunter seemed to just keep taking it all, even a rather painful looking punch to the quad didn't seem to affect him. There was the unmistakable sound of a light grunt, but that was it. Any other Krogan would've had a way more noticeable reaction than that.

This did seem to make the normal Krogan angry though and he managed to throw a rather hard punch at Kraan which hit him in the helmet. Kraan in turn tried to throw his own punch, but the bounty hunter grabbed his wrist. Kraan attempted to punch with the other hand, but the bounty hunter blocked that one with his hand.

Then came a rather frightening sound. The sound of metal creaking. Kraan almost couldn't believe it. This normal Krogan was very nearly crushing the armour on his right arm. That shouldn't even be possible.

Acting quickly, Kraan managed to land a kick in the bounty hunters stomach, causing him to let him go. The bounty hunter though was quick to return this by grabbing Kraan and head-butting him. Against a Helldiver though, even for a Krogan that wasn't the best idea. The only damage it did was make Kraan stagger back as the bounty hunter's head collided with his helmet with a load clang. Kraan of course then returned the head-butt with his own which had so much power and strength behind it literally sent the bounty hunter flying and smashed his helmet completely off.

Right as Kraan was about to attack again however, the bounty hunter looked up at him. Kraan almost froze when he saw the bounty hunters face directly. Could it really be?!

"Father?"

"Kraan?"

Kraan quickly noticed everyone was ready to attack again. Quickly though eh cast himself between them.

"Wait! Everyone stand down!" he said quickly.

"What the hell are you doing here, kid? I thought you left Tuchanka to join the Blood Pack." said the bounty hunter as he gently got up.

"I did. Didn't like it, became a Helldiver instead." Kraan replied.

"You know this Krogan?" Austin asked.

"Urdnot Thrax." said Kraan. "My very violent father."

" **The** Thrax?" Austin asked in surprise. "Heard impressive stories about you."

"And I've heard a great deal about you, Helldivers, if the extranet is to be correct." said Thrax. "I am... surprised though. I did not think my son would be working among aliens, or leading them for that matter."

"Uhm, he's not the leader. I am." Austin corrected him.

"What?!" said Thrax in surprise. "You're taking orders from a human?!"

"What's so wrong about that?" said Austin, trying not to sound insulted.

"Kraan's the strongest among you. He should be leader, not some tiny weak human." said Thrax crossly.

"Now just a minute..." Saphira tried to say.

"Dad, I assure you, Shepard is a worthy leader. I've been under his command for 3 years now, and he has proved himself formidable to our enemies, and more than capable of earning respect from this team and me. He is more than worthy of being considered a Battlemaster to me." Kraan interrupted.

"Really? I find that very hard to believe." said Thrax.

"You might be surprised." said Kraan as he picked up Thrax's warlord hammer.

"Oh, you don't want to do that, boy." Thrax warned.

"Not me, him." said Kraan, indicating to Austin as he handed the hammer back to Thrax.

Seeing where this was going, Austin drew his sword while everyone else stepped back. If he wasn't going to prove himself to Thrax with words, then he'd prove himself by combat.

As Thrax took a hold of his hammer again, the end dropped to the floor as the old Krogan had to hold the weight of it once again. He was still somewhat shaken and exhausted from his son beating him, and the fact that some of his earlier wounds were still regenerating.

Dash and Alaara couldn't help but chuckle slightly. It looked like Shepard was going to mop the floor with this Krogan bounty hunter in a duel.

That however quickly changed when Thrax suddenly attacked with so much force, strength and speed that Austin only just had enough time to bring up his blade and block the attack.

It had been most clever of Thrax. The whole thing of him appearing weak had just been a ruse for him to make his opponent think they had nothing to worry about, thus gaining him the element of surprise.

Austin only managed to two blocks before Kraan managed to knock his blade too far to the side and he used the end of his hammer to hit Austin in the face. The knock hit Austin's helmet so hard that it practically vibrated as Austin staggered back from the blow, disoriented and his ears ringing from the clang of the metal as the vibrations still worked on settling.

"Oh, you alright?!" said Thrax mockingly.

Austin however was quick to return this with a counter as he spun around Thrax and then kicked him in the back, causing the old Krogan to stagger slightly and grunt from the kick.

Now the duel became properly serious. Thrax now knew that he couldn't play tricks on this Helldiver or mock him, because he'd be just as quick to return the favour.

This time though, Austin changed his strategy. Rather than trying to attack Thrax, he instead resorted to defence and let the Krogan do all the attacking. Let the Krogan vent his rage and try to prove himself, all Austin needed was the right opening. Just as Thrax finally managed to overload Austin's defence, the Helldiver finally thrust when he saw the right opening. As Thrax swung for a disarming blow, Austin thrust and he managed to catch the handle of Thrax's Warhammer right in the little gab between his blade and the sword's blade guard on the inside. Acting quickly, Austin rotated the angle until he felt the Warhammer's handle become firmly locked between the blade the and guard. Then with a final mighty push of strength he pulled his sword to the side, snatching the Warhammer clean out of Thrax's hands and throwing it to the side. Before the Krogan even had time to react, Austin swiftly brought the sword back up and pointed it right at Thrax's neck. Thrax quickly got the message. It was over. The human had beaten him.

"Not bad for a human. I'm impressed." The old Krogan panted, still somewhat surprised that a human had managed to disarm him like that, especially so quickly.

"Now…, perhaps you'd be kind enough to tell us why you're here?" said Austin gently sheathing Excalibur.

"I'm a bounty hunter. When you first went after every other crime lords, Aria T'loak hired me personally to hunt down and kill the Kingpin. That's why I'm here finally after two years." Thrax explained.

"You were at the last crime lord's place as well though… and then you killed her." said Saphira.

"That was different. After Kallun was killed, the Kingpin then hired me to hunt down and kill the last one, hoping that doing so would prevent you from finding him. Seems he was wrong of course. Anyway, now I'm here to complete Aria's contract." said Thrax.

"You're going to kill the Kingpin... all on your own?" Alaara asked, trying to hide the fact that she was finding that hard to believe.

"You're either very brave, or rather foolish." said Leena.

"Says the squad whose asses I just kicked and would've killed if not for my son here." said Thrax.

"He has a point. Best you lot managed to do was give him some more battle scars." said Kraan, clearly indicating to the wounds Thrax had sustained from Excalibur and Leena's knife, which were already starting to heal at a slow but very steady rate.

"If you're only here for the Kingpin though, why did you attack us? We meant you no harm, but you forced our hand." said Xun.

"I got warned about you, and to deal with you if you got in the way. Seems I underestimated you though. You're not like other Helldiver squads. Something about you all is different."

"Ooooh. Hear that? We're special." said Dash proudly.

"Except you." Thrax quickly added.

"What?!"

"Back to the point!" said Austin, quickly changing the subject. "We have a decision to make. What happens now?"

"If I may, Shepard. We're all after the same thing. True Thrax is here to kill the Kingpin, but his help could benefit us. Why not simply engage in a very lengthy truce... for now." Saphira suggested.

Austin took a moment to consider this and then turned to the others.

"What do the rest of you think? He asked.

"Long as he doesn't try to stab us in the back, I suppose we can live that." said Ventra.

The rest of the squad nodded and murmured amongst each other in agreement. Convinced, Austin turned back to Thrax.

"Well, Thrax?"

"I suppose I can tolerate working with you lot for now." Thrax shrugged. "Out of curiosity though, what if I refuse?"

"Then I may be forced to let you son kill you. Personally, I'd rather not. But if it comes to that..." said Austin.

"Fair enough." said Thrax. "Well, what are we all standing around here for?"

"Move out." Austin ordered.

Just as everyone else followed, Kraan quickly paused to punch Dash in the helmet.

"Ow! What was that for?!" the Scout complained.

"That's for calling me fat!" Kraan replied.

* * *

There sat the Kingpin. He didn't seem surprised or shocked to see Alpha. Then again, he did have someone with him to make him feel safe. Stood at his side, was none other than the Helldiver Slayer, still as intimidating and ever.

A little strange considering that she had killed Kallun under the orders of whomever Kallun had betrayed the Crime Lords to sell weapons to. But perhaps the Kingpin had just assumed that she wanted in on Thrax's job.

Regardless, she was here now, the only obstacle between Alpha and the Kingpin. This one obstacle though did not move easily.

"So… you came after all." said the Kingpin. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

His eyes then fell on Thrax.

"I'm disappointed, Thrax. After my most gracious payment you've now decided to turn on me?" he said.

"Aria hired my first. You should've been quicker." Thrax simply said.

"Pity. I'd so hoped to hire you again one day." the Kingpin sighed.

"That guy is big." said Sandra.

"That's what she said." Dash joked.

Due to the sexual nature of that joke, Alaara seemed to be the only other one who found that funny.

"How do you put up with this one?" Thrax mumbled to Kraan.

"Occasionally punching him and laughing at his clumsiness. He can't even do smooth talk with an Asari." said Kraan.

"We're only gonna say this once, Kingpin. Surrender now before this gets ugly." said Austin.

"I commend you for making it this far, Alpha Squad. But sadly, all journeys must come to an end. I won't even waste time delaying the ending." said the Kingpin. He then turned to the Helldiver Slayer. "Slayer... deal with them."

Without saying anything, the Slayer slowly walked down the steps until she was on the same even ground as Alpha.

"This time we'll do it together." Austin said quietly to everyone.

"I was about to say that." Xun whispered.

"Alive or dead, it's your choice. I'd rather this didn't get messy." the Slayer finally said.

"Too late for that." said Austin as he and the others readied for a fight.

"Have it your way then." the Slayer sighed as she also readied for a fight. "Shall we dance?"

Everyone attacked at once, hoping the Slayer wouldn't be able to take them all at the same time. Dash even yelled "FLOWER POT!" for some completely random reason in hopes of it being a battle cry. Naturally though, it didn't' work. The Slayer surprised all of them by jumping into the air and practically kicked down so many of them in just a few quick strikes that they temporarily fell to the floor. She then landed back on her feet like it had been nothing.

This only left a few standing, all of which were forced to prepare for another imminent attack.

"I love fighting rookies." Said the Slayer mockingly.

"Is it too late to run?" said Dash nervously.

"If we don't fight, she'll pick us off one by…" said Sandra. But she was suddenly interrupted when the Slayer used her biotics to charge right up to her, and grab her by the neck. "…one."

The Slayer then threw her into Leena and they both hit the wall hard.

"Ow!"

Kraan attempted fire his gun at the bounty hunter, but she quickly countered the minigun, delivered a swift punch to the Krogan's midsection and then kicked him in the back, causing him to stumble, and his head to collide right into Austin's crotch.

Austin only had a minute to grunt in agony before the Slayer then hit both him and Kraan with another biotic charge which caused them to smash through one of the walls into the next room.

Next the Slayer went for Dash and Alaara. The Asari attempted to shoot at the bounty hunter, but the Slayer rolled to avoid this attack. Getting back up, she grabbed both Helldivers and slammed their helmets against each other. With both Helldivers disoriented by this, the Slayer continued her attack with a punch to Alaara's stomach, another punch to Dash's face, sending him spinning, a kick to Alaara's head, which finally made her go down, and another strike which disarmed Dash. She then followed this with a series of quick but very hard punches to Dash face before then tripping him up and aiming a punch right at the one place he didn't' want to get hurt.

"Wait wait wait!" Dash tried to say, but the Slayer didn't listen.

The bounty delivered a swift punch to Dash's crotch causing him to yell in pain. She then finished this with a kick that sent him flying, still clutching his privates in pain.

"HEY SLAYER!" said a voice.

The Slayer just managed to duck in time to avoid a knife as it shot over her. She then turned to the knife's source, Xun.

"Remember me?! Step away from the idiot!" she said as she drew her katana.

The Slayer didn't respond and simply readied for another fight.

Before either opponents could attack however, they were interrupted when Leena, mustering up what strength she could, managed to knock a large pillar over, separating the two.

"Leena, what are you doing?! You're messing up my plan with Kraan. I was supposed to distract her for him." said Xun. Only too late however did she realize what she'd just said.

The Slayer immediately turned to see Kraan standing behind her with his rocket launcher primed.

"You ratted me out, you idiot!" the Krogan cursed.

Desperately, he fired without giving his rocket launcher time to lock on. The Slayer managed to charge out of the way just as the rocket impacted on the fallen pillar behind her. Kraan desperately fired again, but eh Slayer pulled off an even more shocking move. As if time had almost slowed around her, she suddenly kicked the rocket while it was in mid-flight so hard that it literally ended up facing the other way and headed straight at Kraan.

"Oh shit!" the Krogan cursed.

Too slow, the impact of the rocket on the ground sent Kraan flying.

The Slayer then biotically charged again, grabbed Kraan and threw him at Ventra just as he tried to take aim with his bow. The two Helldivers collided with each other with a loud clang.

"Ow!"

"What do we do, Shepard?" Dash groaned as he and most of the others managed to get back up.

"Keep fighting." Austin groaned, also trying to fight through the pain of the beating he and the others were getting.

"We just tried that." Dash complained.

"Try harder!"

"How? She's putting up one hell of a fight." said Dash.

"Then put up a better fight!" Thrax yelled.

The Slayer used a biotic charge again, causing her to slam right into Dash, at the same time snatching one of his pistols out his hand. Austin attempted a swipe with his sword, but the Slayer ducked under it, hit him in the stomach, and then hit him the face with the butt of Dash's pistol, causing him to be sent flying a few metres. Kraan fired a rocket, but the Slayer avoided it and then kicked Kraan, causing him to also fly into Saphira who stumbled right into the Slayer's kick which then pinned her to the floor with Dash's pistol pointed right at her head.

"Oh no! Saphira!" said Sandra.

The Slayer pulled the trigger... and the gun simply clicked.

"Out of ammo? Dash, I told you to stock up!" said Austin.

"Huh. I guess this is the first time my laziness has ever saved a life." said Dash.

He was quickly interrupted though when the Slayer suddenly kicked Saphira so hard that she knocked into both him and Austin at the same time.

"You idiots! Let me show you how it's done!" said Thrax.

Before he could even turn to attack however, the Slayer suddenly punched him in the face so hard that he went flying and soon landed right beside everyone else.

"Nice demonstration, Kraan's father." said Dash sarcastically.

"Shut up, retard!" Thrax grumbled.

"Never heard that one before." said Leena.

It was then that Ventra noticed that the Slayer was standing under what looked like a large sculpture or monument of some kind suspended above her.

"Hey guys, look up there." he said.

Quickly getting the message, Xun took out some of her throwing knives and threw them right at the wires holding the sculpture in place. The Slayer only had a moment to look up before the sculpture supposedly crushed her.

"I can't believe that worked." Dash cheered.

However, the sculpture then slowly rose up, with the Slayer quite literally holding it up on her shoulders.

"I fuck! That didn't work." Dash cursed.

"I knew that wouldn't work. She's a bit of a badass." said Thrax.

Using all her strength, the Slayer then threw the sculpture right at them.

"Uh oh."

What happened next however ended up being quite a memorable sight, everyone that had a melee weapon capable of cutting unsheathed theirs and with just one very swift movement cut the sculpture into pieces.

For a moment, everyone was surprised that had worked. Even the Slayer herself looked a little surprised.

"That was cool! Let's do it again." said Dash.

He was quickly interrupted though when the Slayer used another biotic charged and kicked Austin into everyone else, causing them to be knocked over like bowling pins.

"Alright, that's it. Come 'ere!" said Thrax, quickly getting up and unsheathing his war hammer.

"Kraan, does that rocket launcher have heat seeking on it?" Austin asked as he and the others picked themselves up once again.

"It does, yeah." Kraan groaned.

"Well in that case, lock on and let her rip." said Leena.

Kraan took aim while the Slayer continued to fight Thrax. He didn't fire though.

"What are you waiting for?!" Xun asked.

"I might hit my father." said Kraan.

Thrax sure enough was engaging the Slayer one on one. The Slayer certainly seemed to be handling this fight differently. She knew a direct attack wouldn't work, so she was waiting for an opening.

Thrax swung, but the Slayer dodged to the side and punched him in the shoulder. Thrax attempted to swing again, but the Slayer ducked under, then kicked him in the stomach and punched him in the face. Growing all the more irritated and angry by this, Thrax attempted to thrust. The Slayer though countered the attack and then delivered a biotically charged punch which sent Thrax flying right into another pillar so hard that it cracked and then fell on him.

"Ouch. Even for a Krogan that's gotta hurt." said Ventra.

"You're all clear, Kraan. Now shoot her!" said Austin.

"Fire in the hole!" Kraan yelled.

Kraan fired. The missile immediately headed straight for the Slayer who then ran straight at the opposite wall. Just when it looked like she had nowhere else to run however, the Slayer suddenly ran up for the wall for a small bit, then jumped and flipped over. The missile continued following, but it had now changed course. Both it and the Slayer were now heading directly towards Alpha.

"Are you fucking kidding me?! RUN!" Ventra yelled as he and the others tried to push each other out of the way.

A biotic charge and punch from the Slayer though once again knocked everyone to the floor as she continued running from the missile. Only Dash was left standing as she suddenly slid under his legs. Dash then noticed the missile heading right at him.

"No! Not..." he said as he feared he would be hit. Fortunately though it ended up going right past him. "OH thank god. For a minute I thought I was..."

As he turned to see what had happened to the Slayer and the missile however, he suddenly noticed how the Slayer had managed to get behind one of the fallen pillars and since the missile was following her, it ended up hitting the pillar itself, causing a massive explosion, and debris to shoot everywhere.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Everyone got hit by something, this time knocking them down for good.

As the Slayer reappeared from out of the smoke she couldn't' hep but step on Dash's privates one last time as a humorous insult.

"Ow." he winced. "Why won't you just kill me?!"

The Slayer then took several small devices from her combat belt and threw each one at the Helldivers. As they attached, everyone immediately felt their suits become heavy and founds themselves unable to move.

"I can't move. My suit's completely offline." Austin said.

"Mine too." said Leena. "Something's jamming them."

"Helldivers. You never learn." said the Slayer as she shook her head.

"Bravo, Slayer." said the Kingpin as he clapped slowly. "Now... finish them!"

The Slayer looked back down at Austin who in turn looked up at her, straight into the optic eyes of her expressionless helmet.

Very slowly, the Slayer raised her swords, ready to deliver the final blow. Most by this point would simply accept their fate. Austin though did not close his eyes. He wasn't going to wait for the end. He'd stare into the face of death itself if he had too.

What happened next however, took everyone completely by surprise. The Slayer twirled both her swords... and then sheathed them.

"What are you doing?" the Kingpin asked in surprise.

The Slayer slowly turned to face the Kingpin. For a long time, she didn't say anything, but then finally spoke.

"They are beaten. You may do as you will with them, but I won't kill them." she replied.

"Maybe I didn't hear you right. It sounded like you said, you wouldn't kill them." said the Kingpin, making sure he had heard right.

"I did say that. My... **Master** doesn't want any association with the crime lords anymore, and that includes you." said the Slayer

"After all I've paid you... After all the opportunities I've given you... and this is how you repay me?!" the Kingpin yelled angrily.

"It's nothing personal, Kingpin. It's just business. The Helldivers are yours to do with as you please. Kill them if you must, but they will not die by my hands. As of now, our association is terminated."

As the Slayer turned to leave, Austin managed to speak up.

"Why? You'll never get a better chance." he asked.

The Slayer looked down at Austin, remaining silent for a few moments before she replied

"Even I live by a code, Helldiver. All hunters have rules." she said. "You keep your life, but if ever we meet again, next time I will not hesitate to kill you all."

With that, the bounty hunter activating her omni tool and vanished. Seemed she'd managed to scavenge a Helldiver's cloak at some point in her career as well.

"Typical. You can't rely on anyone these days. You've gotta do everything yourself. Still, I suppose if you want something done properly..." he finally said, taking a gun in his hand and walking down the steps until he stood over the defeated bodies. "At least you're all where I can finish you off."

He then walked up to Saphira and pointed the barrel of the gun right at their head.

"I think I'll start with you first, Justicar. Wouldn't want your friends to miss that." he said.

A shot suddenly rang out...

The Kingpin literally screamed in agony as Thrax shot him in both knees, causing him to fall to the ground. The Old Krogan gently got up and walked over to the Kingpin.

"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." he said.

Saphira meanwhile got up and set about removing the suit jammers from Alpha's armour, allowing them all to reactivate and move again. As Austin got back up, he suddenly noticed that Thrax was about to shoot the Kingpin in the head.

"WAIT! Don't kill him!" he yelled quickly. "We need him alive!"

"I'm being paid to kill him. I don't leave a job unfinished." said Thrax.

"Thrax, he has Intel that is vital to us, and will keep god knows how many lives safe. If he's dead, that still leaves so many things like his money, and criminal empire out there." said Saphira, also taking Austin's side in this.

"After two years, I'm not losing the money I was promised for two years!" Thrax growled, his finger now dangerously close to pulling the trigger.

"We can pay you! Hell, we can pay you double what you were promised." said Austin.

"Hmph. Usually, it's the victims saying that." said Thrax.

"I mean it, Thrax. I and Alpha can pull the necessary strings to make sure you're compensated for giving him to us." said Austin.

"I've been promised 200 million credits for this guy's head. You really think you can top that?" Thrax asked.

"How's 400 million sound?"

Thrax had to admit, he was surprised by that. He was now starting to reconsider this. Perhaps he just might the Helldivers' offer instead.

"Don't listen to them. Just kill me!" the Kingpin yelled.

"Father… don't do it." said Kraan.

"Kill me!" the Kingpin yelled again.

"It's not your lucky day, pal." said Thrax. For a long moment, everyone feared he was about to pull the trigger... but he didn't. Instead, he lowered his gun with a sigh.

"He's all yours. Don't make me regret this." he said.

"You won't. Trust me." said Austin.

"You keep your word… and I just might trust you." said Thrax.

"What are you gonna do to me?" the Kingpin asked worriedly as he gazed up at the Helldivers towering over him. "What are you gonna do?!"

"Not my place to say." Austin replied coldly.

"I'm just doing my job. He paid me so much for all this."

"What are you talking about?" Saphira asked.

"He's the one behind all this." the Kingpin replied.

"Who's "he?" Austin asked, trying his best to hide his concern. After all they had been through, to suddenly find out that someone else was behind this... "Are you saying someone else has been behind the crime lords?"

"Tell us! Who's behind all this?"

 _"And so the truth comes out."_ said a deep voice, causing everyone to turn to the screen behind them. All that could be seen was a... _"I'm disappointed in you, Kingpin. I expected more."_

"I'm sorry. I did my best." said the Kingpin.

_"Clearly it was not enough."_

"So you're the one who's been behind all this. Frankly I'm not surprised… Shadow Broker." said Xun.

 _"I must admit, I'm just as surprised to hear your voice, Xun."_ said the Shadow Broker. _"You've been somewhat of a rival in my business."_

"The feeling's mutual, believe me." said Xun bitterly.

"So you've been behind this all along."

_"It's almost a shame really. You've come all this way only for it end to be all for not. Don't bother trying to trace this, you will fail."_

"We won't' forget this, Shadow Broker! Even if not by our hands or in our lifetime, one way or another you will answer for this."

_"I doubt it. Pray our paths do not cross again, Alpha Squad. Next time I will not be so forgiving._

"We're done here." said Austin. "Dash, secure him."

"You're under arrest, Kingpin." said Dash dramatically as he secured the crime lord. "Heh! Always wanted to say that."

* * *

Alpha stood before the Arkane Council as they were being congratulated. It wasn't a big ceremony or anything like that, but it certainly felt nice for all of them to be back home after all of this was now over. Now they could get back to doing normal Helldiver stuff. Also in attendance was General Zartrack himself, obviously there to offer his own congratulations. That and he hadn't seen his favourite student for some time.

"You've done very well, Alpha Squad. It may have taken two years, but you did it nonetheless. And to think we almost lost hope." Said Tarnack.

"Never give up, never surrender as I always say." Said Dash.

"Dash, you've never said that." Said Leena.

"I have now."

"Keelah, you can be so annoying."

"It wasn't a total victory though, Councillors. The Shadow Broker's still out there and we may never track him down at all. Not to mention he Slayer is also still out there." Said Austin.

"It certainly has become clear that this Helldiver Slayer is a problem that will not go away easily. Said one of the Council.

"Glad we agree on that. We may have been unprepared for her, but when was the last time someone stood up to entire squad of Helldivers, a Krogan bounty hunter and a Justicar, and held her own?" Austin asked rhetorically.

"Troubling indeed. Especially about the way you described the way she fights. It sounds very familiar, and not just to how any Helldiver fights. I think we'd all like to know who this separate faction she's working for is. Who is this... "Master" of hers?" said Zartrack.

"Regardless, Alpha's successful completion of this mission should not go unrewarded. You've certainly proven to us that you work and fight well as a team. Therefore, we've commissioned you you're very own ship. Now you will able to journey anywhere you require for your missions, and possibly even investigate your own leads." Said Spartan.

Alpha were almost left lost for words after hearing that. To be given your own ship by the Arkane Council was a very huge honour.

"We're honoured, Council. Thank you." Austin finally said.

"You have earned it, Alpha. Despite the odds, you succeeded. Not many squads like yours could pull of a mission like this successfully." Said Tarnack.

"You're assistance is also greatly appreciated, Justicar Saphira. Is there anything that we can do to thank you?" Spartan asked.

"Your gratitude is all I require, Council. I did nothing more than follow my code." Said Saphira modestly.

"Nevertheless, you and the Justicars have shown themselves to be friends of the Helldivers. You and your order are always welcome here." Said Spartan.

"One thing I would ask though, Councillors." Said Austin.

"Commander?"

"Urdnot Thrax should be rewarded for his help too. He also possibly gave up the payment he was promised in letting us have the Kingpin. I think all of us agree he should be compensated." Austin requested.

"We'll see to it that he is paid what you promised, even if he is not here to accept our thanks directly." Said Tarnack.

"If that is all, you are dismissed, Alpha."

With that, everyone left. After all, they had a new reward to check out. Zartrack though stayed.

"What do you think, General?" Spartan asked.

"I think they seem to be doing rather well, not just as team but also with their missions." Zartrack replied.

"So you think we should finally consider forming more multi species squads?" Tarnack asked.

"Are we not firm supporters peace and unity among all?" Zartrack replied.

"The general raises a good point."

"Seems then that Alpha have brought about a new generation for the Helldivers. It remains to be seen what the future holds for them." Said Spartan.

* * *

Walking into the massive hanger where every single ship of every kind in the Helldivers was docked. It didn't take Alpha long to spot the one that now belonged to them. Docked very near to where they were was a 1.5 KM Helldiver carrier class ship. It almost looked like a giant gun attached to a rocket booster.

Admittedly, Alpha had thought they'd be getting something a bit smaller, but none of them were complaining about it being huge.

"Oh hell yeah! Take a look at that! We are going in style now, brahs!" said Dash.

Even Alex looked impressed.

"We're gonna need a bigger crew." She said.

"For a moment I thought you were gonna say "bigger ship"." Said Sandra. "The only thing possibly bigger than that is the Legacy, and that's not finished yet."

"So what's she called?" Austin asked.

"The RLS Endeavour." said Leena.

"Nice."

Everyone then turned to Saphira. They knew that with all the crime lords apprehended, it was time for them to part ways.

"I just want to say, Saphira… thank you. I don't know if we could've done it the same way without you." Said Austin.

"You're too kind, Shepard." Saphira smiled. "It has been an honour to fight at your side. I'm almost sad to be saying goodbye to you all."

"Where will go now?" Xun asked.

"Wherever I am needed. Wherever I must serve the code." Saphira replied. "I think I'll head back to Thessia first.

"Tell you what, why don't we give you a ride there? Be a much better way of saying thank you and farewell." Austin suggested.

"I'd be more than welcome." Saphira smiled.

"What are we waiting for then?! Let's ROLL OUT!" said Dash dramatically. "Oh wait, wrong franchise."

* * *

Thrax had decided to return to Tuchanka after leaving Alpha. Something about the fact that his son had joined the Helldivers made him think that perhaps there were better things he could be doing, other than being a bounty hunter. These days, the Krogan weren't at their best at all.

As the Krogan exited the shuttle he'd arrived on, he opened the message he'd just received. Though he had ultimately decided to retire being a bounty hunter, he was at least pleased to see that Alpha were keeping their end of the deal. Sure enough, the message was from the Arkanes expressing their gratitude at him helping Alpha, and that they had transferred the promised payment into his account as promised.

Just as Thrax closed the message, he suddenly noticed he'd received another one. It was from Aria.

_Thrax_

_As I understand it, the Kingpin has been arrested by the Helldivers. I'll admit, when I first heard about that, I was just about ready to deny you your money. But then I heard that you actually assisted these Helldivers. It's not what I asked, but the fact that the Kingpin is now in the Arkane prison does at least mean he won't' be a problem anymore. No one has ever escaped or broken into that prison, and I really doubt that someone like the Kingpin will. So, I've decided that because I am in a good mood after hearing this news, and due also to the fact that you did have a hand in the Kingpin's arrest, I'm paying you what I promised. Plus, a little something extra. I hope it pleases you._

_Aria T'loak_

Thrax was very surprised by this. Not only had he been paid double by the Arkanes, but now he'd just been paid what he was promised as well. With that much money, he could easily retire now. The Krogan though had other ideas. True he was retired as a bounty hunter, but that didn't necessarily mean he was going to settle down. That wasn't his style after all.

* * *

**Overall, I'd say that went rather well, apart from the fact it took me so bloody long to finish.**

**Hopefully the next one won't take anywhere near as long. Until next time.**

**Leave reviews if you can. They really do hope, trust me. :)**


	12. Chapter 12, The Legend Begins

**I'm back at last!**

**Guess there's little I can say to convince you how sorry I am that you all had to wait so bloody long for me to finish this.**

**I guess all I can hope for now is that you still enjoy the chapter and aren't' too cross with me.**

**I will admit, quite a few bits were rushed because I started getting so desperate to finish this. But at the same time there are a few bits I'm happy with.**

**See what you think.**

* * *

**YEAR 3, Legends in the making**

**2175: 3 1/2 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**12 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"Finally we were back to our usual stuff of fighting either Batarians or Cerberus. That usual routine however was not to last it seemed. Nor was it to last that we'd be looked upon as a squad like any other. Oh no. What happened next was about to change all of our lives, and would forever write our names in the history books..._

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**The Legend Begins**

The Endeavour was proving to be quite a ship. Despite that it was brand new, and hadn't been intentionally designed with Alpha in mind, it did feel like it was. It had pretty much all they could want. A gym, a place to relax, quarters for every one of them, access to more dropships and equipment, a place where they could fix their and further customize their armour if they needed to and also a training simulator.

Right now, Alpha was simply using the gym for their regular workouts. They had to admit, this gym had an even better and motivational atmosphere than the last one they used had.

Dash was currently running on a treadmill, Leena was bench pressing (with an awful lot of weight) Austin was doing chin ups, Sandra was sparing with Alaara in boxing, Kraan was taking a small break to have ahis version of a little snack (a while meal almost), and Ventra was simply practicing his archery.

Despite running at a high speed, Dash still wasn't that out of breath. He'd been doing this a long time after all. Unlike all the others, he valued lightness and speed over muscle and strength. Being the scout, he needed that speed.

He was unable to stop staring at Leena. Even after 3 years of working with her, it did still amaze him that a Quarian had that much muscle. It was almost frightening.

"I'm curious, Leena. Have you ever been mistaken for a man?" he asked.

"No." Leena grunted as she continued pushing the heavy weight. "Have you?"

"Ha! I love that one. Good comeback, Leena." Kraan laughed.

"Been waiting to use that actually." said Leena, managing a smile under her helmet.

"You've been watching too many movies again." said Dash.

"You kind of had that coming though, Dash." said Austin, now switching to doing chin ups with just one arm. "If you want to get a girl in your life, you shouldn't question her on her sexuality."

"Alright, fine. I'm sorry I said that." said Dash, finally stopping his treadmill and slowing down. "Still, Leena is quite big, you gotta admit."

"That I'm okay with hearing." said Leena.

Austin finally finished his own workouts and went to get a drink. He noticed Kraan sat near the drinks machine and he appeared to be cleaning his weapons.

"This is just too good. We get slick equipment, a nice ride, and a ready supply of every explosive there ever was. I think this'll do, boss." The Krogan grinned as he finished reassembling his mingun.

"I try to run a good outfit." Said Austin, dabbing at his sweat with a towel.

"I'm sure you do." Said Kraan. "Trust me, if I'm kept happy, then you'll be kept happy."

Austin then went over to the bench press while Leena stood over him to count his reps and challenge him. After several reps, the human finally started to reach his limit.

"One more, and flex when you come up." Said Leena.

Austin managed one more push and with Leena's help managed to put the barbell back on the rack.

"Blimey, I'm gonna feel sore in the morning." Austin groaned as he attempted to stretch to try and relieve the soreness.

"No pain, no gain. As you humans say." Said Leena. "Just remember "When it burns, it grows."

Alaara couldn't' help but chuckle slightly. The others soon get what she was laughing at, but they weren't impressed.

"Completely inappropriate, Alaara." She said unimpressed.

"I'm sorry, but…"

"Even I didn't really find that funny." Said Dash.

At that moment, Austin's Omni tool then bleeped. Another message from the Arkanes it seemed.

"Always when we're working out." Leena sighed.

Austin opened up the message.

"Looks like an investigation one this time." he said. "Horizon, a human colony in the Terminus systems has gone silent. The Council want us to investigate."

"Probably just a damaged transmitter."

"Beats sitting around on our assess all day doing nothing while we float around in space." said Kraan. "Let's go put some of this fancy new equipment to use."

* * *

As the dropship descended, the colony soon became visible from out of the cockpit. It was what Alpha had expected. There were definite signs that the colony had been attacked. Even though they were on the outside of the massive wall surrounding the colony, it was clear that there had been fighting of some kind.

"This doesn't look good." said Sandra.

"Batarians?" Alaara asked.

"We don't know yet, but we're gonna find out." said Austin. "Alright. Here's the plan. We'll scout out the area first, and then head inside the compound. We'll split up into two teams for this one. Alaara, you're in charge of team 2. Take Kraan, Ventra and Sandra with you."

"Yes, sir." Alaara nodded.

"Leena, Dash, you're with me."

From out of the cockpit, Austin then spotted a good place outside of wall to land.

"Drop us off here. Take team 2 to the far side of that wall." he said to Alexa.

"Got it." Alexa nodded.

The first team hopped out of the dropship. As they hit the ground, it then flew off to the far side.

_"Heading to drop point 2. Good luck down there."_

"You too." said Austin. He then turned to the team. "Keep your guard up. Whoever did this might still be around."

Everyone drew their weapons and began making their way to the entrance that would hopefully take them to the other side.

Unknown to them however, they were being watched. From behind a nearby boulder, a hooded figure slowly rose up with an assault rifle aimed right at Austin. The figure didn't fire though. Though now it was simply studying them.

The team all suddenly whirled around, their guns pointing right at the figure.

For a few tense moments no one said anything. Then the stranger gently lowered its gun.

"About time you showed up."

It was a female voice. More than that though, it was recognizably Turian.

She was dressed in medium Turian armour which had a fair few ammo pouches strapped to it. The biggest feature of her outfit was the hood and cape she wore. The hood hid most of her face which was already wearing a breather mask and the cape was a part of it, reaching all the way down to her hips and completely covering her left arm and left half of her body. The entire outfit had a Turian blue colour to it with a few silver accents here and there. She also had a knife holstered across her chest.

"Who are you? What are you doing out here?" Austin asked cautiously. He and the others lowered their guns a bit, but they did not totally relax yet.

"Helldiver Agent Telrass Valenka, class 3." the Turian replied.

Convinced now that this Turian was on their side, the team relaxed. Austin in fact was rather surprised. Was this really the Turian he had slept with a few years ago/ He had to admit, this different look was a big surprise.

"It's not polite to sneak up on people you know." said Leena.

"After all that's happened today, I can't afford to take any chances." said Telrass bitterly.

Despite that she was in the company of allies, she still didn't remove her helmet or lower her hood. Probably standard training for agents as well as Helldivers. Although admittedly, she didn't necessarily sound all that pleased to see them either. Now that Austin looked in more detail at her, it looked as though she'd been in quite a few fights. Her armour looked a bit singed and scratched. Her hood/cape was also fairly worn and torn.

"Which one of you is CO?" the Turian asked, finally holstering her assault rifle.

"Commander Austin Shepard, Alpha Squad. I believe we've met, Telrass." Austin replied.

"Thought you looked familiar." Telrass replied. Her tone remained unchanged. She sounded cold.

Austin had to admit, he was a little concerned. Had something happened to her after they'd last met?

"You know her?" Dash asked in surprise.

"I'll explain later. Right now though we have bigger concerns." said Austin.

"Agreed. The Batarians are practically everywhere." said Telrass.

"What type of Batarians? Slavers? Red Skulls?" Austin asked.

"Normal Batarians by the looks of them, but they're clearly not part of the Batarians as a whole. I think they may be a rouge faction."

"What makes you say that?"

"They're not taking any prisoners; even the colonists are getting killed."

"Are there any still left alive?"

"Yes. They should still be on the other side of that wall."

"Why aren't you with them though? What are you doing out here?" Leena asked a hint of suspicion present in her voice.

"Another squad of Helldivers and I were trying to sneak some of the colonists out. We hoped we might be able to get them to safety until reinforcements arrived. It didn't work. They killed everyone. I barely made it out alive. One of the colonists actually gave his life so I could escape. Been fighting for my life ever since." said Telrass, the sorrow clearly present in her voice.

At least that explained her attitude and tone. Who wouldn't be like that after what she'd endured.

"It's not your fault, Telrass. You fought as hard as you could, and those Helldivers died fighting. There are far worse ways to go." said Austin, trying to offer some comfort.

"I appreciate you saying that, but I'm not looking for sympathy, Shepard." said Telrass. "Anyway, the Batarians are heavily concentrated on a part of the colony to the south behind the wall. That's probably where the colonists have gathered. They're fighting back as best they can, but without Helldiver assistance, they won't last much longer."

"Then we need to get there fast." said Dash.

"Can you still fight?" Austin asked.

"I may be an agent, but I have training as a Ranger and tactics officer as well. And even if I was injured, I'm not gonna let that keep me from getting even with those animals." said Telrass.

That certainly convinced the others she was more than capable. Rangers were classes that specialized mainly in fighting on their own and were often to deployed out very deep in the Terminus systems were it was most dangerous, and the Helldiver's had less of a presence or influence. Both Helldivers and Agents could be trained in this class.

"I'm beginning to like her." said Leena.

"Alaara, this is Shepard. Change of plans, we need to get to the south of the colony. We'll rendezvous on the other side of the wall." Austin said into his comm.

" _Copy that, Commander."_ said Alaara.

"Alright, let's move out."

Telrass it seemed wanted to take point, no doubt in case they got attacked so that she'd be the first to kill a Batarian.

"So you and this Turian…" Dash asked, keeping his voice down.

"You really wanna talk about this now, Dash?" Austin sighed.

"I'm just curious. Is she a friend or a "friend"?"

"Not following you."

"Friend as in you've known her a long time, or friend as in you slept with her."

"Slept with her."

"Someday you're gonna have to teach me how you do that, Commander. You always seem to have such a way with the ladies."

"I can hear you two." said Telrass irritably.

"You know for someone you slept with, she doesn't sound very happy to see you." said Dash.

"She's watched many friends die. Going through something like that changes you, a lot." said Austin.

"And you'd know all about that, would you?" Dash asked.

"All too well." said Austin.

"How?"

"That's for another time."

* * *

They continued further into they were literally inside the wall. As they went deeper however, it started to get a lot darker and bit more eerie.

"How we looking?" Austin asked.

"Getting dark and I don't have night vision goggles." Telrass replied.

"Wait one sec. I think I've got just the thing." said Leena. She then activated a holographic combat drone which she controlled from her Omni tool. "There. That should let us stick together."

"Neat trick." said Dash.

"We always visit such cheerful places." Said Leena sarcastically, looking around at the somewhat damaged and abandoned workings of the structure.

They continued on through the dark until finally reaching a simply massive chasm surrounded by an almost endless open space of the rest of the wall.

"Shit, this wall is big." said Dash in awe.

"We'll need more light to find a way across." said Telrass.

Leena maneuverer the drone off into the distance, taking the light with it.

"Hang tight. I'll get the drone to find two sticks to rub together. And by sticks I mean highly complex circuits that I am fully equipped to repair…" said Leena, starting to babble a bit with tech talk.

"Leena, keep the technical talk to yourself please." Austin kindly interrupted.

After a few seconds, the entire chasm started to fill with light.

"Right, that's got It." said Leena.

At the same time however, that brought forth some unwelcome guests.

"I may have overdone it!"

"We've got trouble!" said Dash, noticing several Batarians making their way across the bridge to their right.

"On our right!" Telrass yelled.

The gunfire quickly began as everyone went for cover. Telrass actually managed to push forward and she gunned down the closest.

"Pushing up." said Austin as he moved to nearer cover.

He suddenly spotted a Batarian scout hiding just behind were Telrass had moved up to."

"We got more of them! Watch out!" he yelled.

The scout lunged at Telrass only for the Turian to counter his Omni blade with her knife as she sheathed her rifle. She then drew her combat knife out of its heath and managed to stab the Batarian in the heart. She then managed to use the Batarian as a shield as she took out her rifle again and continued firing. Once she got close enough to the next Batarian, she shoved the body into him, slit his neck with the knife, and finally threw the knife at another, knocking him off his feet as it impaled him right in the chest.

"She's good." said Dash.

"Yeah. She certainly knows how to use a knife also." said Leena.

I'm moving forward." said Telrass.

"Got you covered." said Austin, providing cover fire.

Dash shortly moved up as well. There were still more Batarians in the next room. This time though, a large amount of crates in the centre separated them a bit.

"Going left." said Telrass.

"Okay, I'm going right." Said Dash.

While Telrass took the Batarians on the left side of the crates, Dash took the right. He even managed to pull off a slide as he continued shooting, taking out at least 3 with just that slide.

Austin and Leena soon followed with cover fire, making short work of the rest of the Batarians. Only one was left and he attempted to retreat.

"We got a runner." Leena called out.

"I'm on him." said Dash, calmly aiming his pistol. "I got him… I got him…"

Dash fired one shot. It hit the Batarian right in the head and he fell.

"Yes!"

The silence only lasted for about a minute or so as everyone crossed the bridge over the large gap ahead. At least now they were on the other side of the chasm they'd been stuck on earlier. As they were about halfway though, a blast door suddenly opened revealing more Batarians.

"More Batarians below!" Telrass called out

"I see 'em." said Austin.

He quickly took a grenade from his belt and threw at, causing some of the Batarians to retreat for cover from the blast.

"Telrass, they're pulling back to you." said Dash.

"I've got them!" said the Turian, charging ahead into the fight.

"Wait!"

Telrass it seemed though had the situation under control. By the time the rest of the team joined her, she'd already taken out 3 Batarians.

"Nice shot." said Leena as Telrass managed a headshot on another.

"Let's mop 'em up." said Dash, performing another slide shooting, managing to take out the last few.

"We good?" Austin asked as they scanned the area.

The silence however only lasted a few seconds before several loud thuds came from a nearby open vent. A Batarian heavy suddenly burst through and opened fire, forcing all but Telrass to take cover.

"We've got one more! Heavy!" said Leena.

"Telrass, don't get too close!" Austin yelled.

Too late. The female Turian ran at the attacker only for him to swat her aside, causing her collide rather hard with a pillar.

"Twisted my ankle!" she groaned in pain.

"Hang tight. We've got him." said Dash.

The Scout immediately opened fire with his pistols, only for them to have little effect on the Batarian's heavy armour.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIEDIEDIEDIE!"

Leena meanwhile managed to sneak up from behind and attempted a stealth kill only for the Batarian to spot her a bit too soon. He attempted to melee the Quarian with his minigun only for the Quarian to block it. A somewhat heated wrestle soon began to unfold as the two muscled warriors attempted to overpower each other.

At the same time, both Austin and Dash snuck round either sound, waiting until they had the right opening. Sure enough, that moment soon came when the Batarian managed to bang his minigun into Leena's head, temporarily disorienting her. He then flung her aside to turn his attention back to the other two. Only too late however, did he realize they were ready for him.

Dash once again opened fire with his pistols while Austin took an incendiary grenade from his belt and primed it.

"Eat this!"

The Batarian turned right as Austin threw the grenade and it hit the heavy square in the face. Almost immediately, his entire face and armour caught fire and he screamed in pain as he was literally burnt to a crisp.

Extreme, but under the circumstances, necessary.

"Phew. That was rough." said Dash.

"Take their ammo. We're probably gonna need it." Austin ordered as he helped Leena up. He then walked over to Telrass and applied some medi gel to her ankle. He then attempted to help the Turian up.

"I don't need your help! I'm alright." said the Turian, shrugging off the help.

"You're welcome." Austin sighed.

* * *

The team continued on until they finally emerged into the sunlight again.

"Alright! We made it through the wall." Dash cheered.

"Nice work, Telrass." said Austin.

Telrass simply nodded in acknowledgement, her expression remaining unchanged.

At the moment, the second team of Alpha arrived from another side in the wall. Telrass, who was still somewhat jumpy pointed her gun at them, only for Austin to force it down gently.

"It's okay, they're with us." he said.

"You run into any Batarians on your way through?" Alaara asked.

"A few. Nothing we couldn't handle though." Dash replied smugly.

"Who's this?" Ventra asked.

"Telrass Valenka. She's a Helldiver agent." Austin replied.

The conversation was suddenly interrupted by a voice through everyone's radio of the remaining colonists.

" _Hello? Can anyone hear me? Is anyone receiving? Hello?"_

"This is Commander Austin Shepard of Alpha Squad." said Austin.

" _Oh thank god! More Helldivers. Are you the reinforcements? How many of you are there?"_

"Just an 8 man squad, but trust me, we pack a hell of a punch. What's your position?" Austin asked.

" _Just follow the gunshots."_

Sure enough, the faint sound of heavy gunfire could be heard in the distance.

"Copy that. Just sit tight and hold on. We'll get to you as quickly as we can." said Austin.

" _Hurry. We won't last much longer at this rate."_

Suddenly everything seemed to go much darker for a while. Everyone looked towards where the sun had just been only to find something absolutely massive blocking it out.

"What… the hell is that?" said Sandra in disbelief.

"Doesn't look friendly." said Ventra.

It was a ship of some kind, but unlike any ever seen before. Estimates on its length had to be at least 2km, making it larger even than The Legacy. Mostly black in appearance with some signs of significant damage it seemed to resemble some kind of large squid with mechanical arms longer than its body.

"That is a bigass ship." said Dash.

The ship began changing its course as it slowly descended and flew slowly over the colony.

"The Batarian's flagship." Telrass said, almost growling in anger.

As the massive ship slowly flew over, several small dots began to detach and head in the same direction that as the gunfire. They were dropships.

"It's dropping off more troops." said Ventra.

"Lock and load, people. Things are about messy." said Austin.

The whole squad broke into a run, heading in the direction that the drop ships were heading. Some of the Batarians quickly took notice and opened fire.

"Spread out! Telrass, stay close to me!" Austin yelled.

"I can handle myself, Shepard!" said Telrass, charging off to take cover behind a nearby crate.

"Girls with guns." said Kraan, nudging Austin.

"Going left!" said Sandra as she jumped down to the lower ground to engage the Batarians directly.

"Got you covered!" said Austin, providing cover fire from the high ground.

"Alright, Alaara! Let's see some magic." he said.

Alaara immediately ran at the largest group. Using her bitoics she leapt several feet into the air. As she began to fall, she charged up a massive biotic blast with her hand. Right as she landed, her fist hit the ground and a massive biotic blast sent every nearby Batarian flying.

"If that hit your chest, I'm sorry. I was aiming for your crotch." said Dash as he shot another Batarian.

Another dropship then gently hovered over the area. Unlike the others however, it seemed to be carrying something rather large.

"We got another dropship." said Ventra. "It's got a tank walker!"

Everyone immediately made sure they got to cover upon hearing this. Tank walkers, even for them, meant big trouble. Despite that the Batarians didn't often have access to the most advanced resources out in the terminus systems, they still managed to build formidable weaponry against the Helldivers. Twice as large and twice as deadly as a heavy mech, tank walkers were practically mobile tanks on robotic legs.

The walker detached from the dropship and landed hard on the ground. All of Alpha quickly opened fire in a hope to destroy or at least weaken the walker before it could get properly set up. Despite the constant gunfire however.

"Careful, it's getting set up!" Austin yelled.

Gently rising up from the small crater it had created, the tank walker began taking aim at where Alpha was fighting.

"Look out!"

The tank fired just as everyone managed to get to cover, the shot just barely missing them.

"Whoa!"

"More on the right!" Alaara yelled as more Batarians dropped of just to the right and came up alongside the walker.

"I got these guys!" said Kraan, letting his minigun loose.

Austin and the others meanwhile concentrated their fire on the tank walker. A few well-placed shots managed to hit one of the tanks legs, damaging it enough that some of its armour plating was blown apart which temporarily caused the walker to stumble and in doing so exposed a temporary weak point.

"He's down, but not out." Said Ventra.

"Light him up!" Alaara yelled.

Everyone once again concentrated their fire on the weak point while the walker was temporarily down. They definitely dealt a good deal of damage, but eventually the walker once got back up.

"Shoot its legs out!" Austin yelled.

Alpha once again opened fire, their rounds continuously wearing down the walker's armour. The weak point also helped do even more damage. Eventually, a well-placed shot managed to once again cause the walker to fall, once again exposing its weak point. This time though, Alpha knew how to put it down for good.

"Alaara, now!" Austin yelled.

"I got him!" said the Asari.

Using her biotics, Alaara propelled herself high into the air until she had a clear shot at the walker's weak point. Just as she started to feel gravity pulling her back down she charged up a massive biotic attack and shot it directly at the walker.

The biotics hit the walker's weak point dead on and it completely exploded.

"Alright, team! Way to go!" Dash cheered. "Thank you, thank you..."

In all his celebration however, he'd failed to notice two Batarians still standing behind him, who were about to take aim.

Sandra though was quick to notice and attacked from behind, stabbing both Batarians in the back of the head with her Sais.

"And thank you." said Dash as he turned and noticed this.

"How many times have I told you?! No celebrating till the fight is over!" said Sandra crossly.

"How many times have I told **you** , I assumed it **was** over?!" Dash argued.

"Knock it off, you two! We've still got a colony to save."

This was only further stressed as the Batarians flagship began to descend, casting a dark shadow over most of the colony as it blotted out the sun... and it looked like it was dangerously close to where the last of the colony were pinned down

"MOVE IT, ALPHA! DOUBLE TIME!"

Alpha broke into a run as they continued through the colony. Soon they ran into the survivors.

"Thank god you arrived. I don't know how much more we could take." Said one of them.

"We'll get you out of here safely. You have my word. But first we need TO clear the airspace so our dropship can get in." Austin promised.

"We've got more incoming!" one of the colonists yelled.

More Batarian dropships soon came into view, dropping off more troops.

"This is it, Alpha! LIGHT 'EM UP!" Austin yelled.

The place once again became full of gunfire. Rather than concentrate on the Batarians however, Alpha first focused on the dropships. It wasn't long before the sky was soon clear and Alexa soon hovered into view.

As the dropship touched down, the side door opened and Alpha provided cover fire while the last few colonists hurried in.

The second the last one was in, the dropship took off again. A few shots from the Batarians hit it, but it remained unfazed by this. It was only the dropship flew out of sight though that Austin noticed Telrass had abandoned the group and was heading right at the Batarians.

"Telrass, no!" Austin yelled.

Telrass though remained oblivious to Austin and charged head first into the oncoming Batarians. It took the enemy by surprise admittedly, but against all of them… Telrass probably wouldn't last long.

"Why does she always do that? She's gonna get herself killed." Austin sighed.

"Go help her, Commander. We've got this." Said Alaara.

"You're sure?"

Alaara nodded.

With a another sigh, Austin left the others and went after Telrass, gunning down a few more Batarians as he went.

He reached Telrass just as one of the Batarians knocked her down. He was quick to gun that one down though.

"Telrass, you can't just charge ahead of us." He said as he helped the Turian up.

"I have a score to settle." She said.

"And getting yourself killed is part of that?"

Before Telrass could answer, another dropship landed and several more Batarian soldiers hopped out. They quickly noticed and two and readied for a fight, surrounding them from all sides.

"We'll talk about this later. Right now though…" said Austin as he and Telrass stood back to back.

"I think I get the picture." Said the Turian.

The Batarians attacked first. Austin took some, while took the rest. A few times they'd even throw their attackers at one another, allowing for much quicker takedowns.

"Shepard, here!" Telrass yelled as she tossed another Batarian to Austin which the Helldiver quickly killed with a shot to the head.

Finally as Austin knocked down the last of the group he was fighting, he noticed one was still standing. Something about this one though was different. He looked as though he'd been waiting until he had the Helldiver all to himself.

"You!"

"Do I know you?" Austin asked, a little puzzled.

"You should. You should especially recognize me after my omni blade gave you that scar." Said the Batarian, tapping a place on his helmet where Austin remembered getting a scar there from when he had fought on…

"Oh, you. Back to finish things then?" Austin asked, now recognizing this Batarian as the same one he'd fought on Elysium.

"Indeed. And this time you will know me as Balak as I cut you down, Commander Shepard." Said Balak as he drew his omni blade.

Austin didn't say a word and simply drew Excalibur.

He let Balak attack first and almost instantly brought his blade up to defend.

Compared to last time, Austin actually had the upper hand. He'd training and practicing his swordsmanship for the last 3 years since Elysium. It certainly showed as well. With each attack or parry he moved much faster and every move of his arm was more controlled and precise.

Balak though definitely had more ferocity in his swings, so that meant he hit full force, despite that he was fighting someone who was three times as strong as him. By comparison, Austin was a much calmer fighter, so both opponents had their advantages and disadvantages.

The duel continued for a fair few tense minutes. Austin at first seemed to be pressing the advantage, but soon Balak started to gain the upper hand. Eventually, he kept making Austin back away so much that the Helldiver backed into a wall. Balak then struck several times before finally clashing in a blade lock.

"Give up, Helldiver! We overwhelm you." Said Balak.

"You should know by now that we never give up." Said Austin.

"You're alone against me. Don't think you'll win this time."

"Well that's where you're wrong, Balak." Said Austin.

Balak suddenly felt a few taps on his shoulder. He looked to suddenly see Telrass standing right behind him.

"A Helldiver's never truly alone." She said.

Before Balak could react in time, Telrass delivered a swift punch to his face, causing the Batarian to stumble. Austin immediately seized the opportunity and managed to force Balak's blade to the side. As he finally had the blade out, he then swung inwards with his own blade and it cut a vast amount of Balak's helmet off… and taking one of his eyes with it.

The Batarian cried out in anger and fell to his knees, clutching at where his eye had originally been. When he looked up, he found both Excalibur pointing at his neck, and Telrass' rifle pointed at his head.

"It's over, Balak." Said Austin.

"Not yet." The Batarian growled.

The sudden loud hum of an engine drew everyone attention to the Batarian ship which was now taking off.

"The ship's leaving!" Alaara yelled.

"The Helldivers before you will prove helpful in us taking the next fight to you directly." Balak smiled evilly.

Telrass immediately went up to Balak and held a knife to his throat.

"Where are they going? Tell us!" she barked.

Balak though simply grinned evilly. At that moment, one final Batarian dropship suddenly hovered down, it's main gun aimed right at them.

"You'll find out soon enough." Said Balak.

Kraan quickly noticed and took aim with his rocket launcher.

"You two, duck!" he yelled.

"Kraan, wait!"

But it was too late. Kraan fired a rocket and hit the dropship causing it to immediately spiral out of control. Austin barely had enough time to grab Telrass in his arms and shield her from the blast as the dropship exploded on impact with the ground.

When the flames and smoke finally subsided, Austin let Telrass go.

"Thanks." She simply said.

"Don't mention it." Austin nodded.

"Balak's gone!" Telrass cursed. "We should go after him."

"Let him go. We've got bigger problems to worry about right now." Said Austin, looking up at the sky worryingly as the Batarian's ship finally disappeared from view.

* * *

"Have you confirmed that they're heading for Arkadia?" Austin asked.

"Their trajectory suggests no other destination, Commander." Alaara sighed.

"Well if the Helldivers are their target, why didn't they destroy us using their ship?" Dash asked. "Apart from the fact that we're the main characters of this story obviously."

"Why would they? Why waist the weaponry? They probably don't think that one ship with a full size crew is the same threat as an entire army, especially against that dreadnought." said Telrass.

"Speaking of which, where the hell did they get that kind of technology from? The Batarians don't have anywhere the necessary amount of resources, let alone knowledge to build a warship that advanced." said Leena.

"I don't know. Right now however, we need to think about how we can stop it and rescue the Helldivers the Batarians have taken captive." said Austin.

"Why would they even keep them alive anyway? Why not just kill them?"

"As Helldivers, we do know about Arkadia's defences and how they work. The Batarians are probably just keeping them alive to learn them."

"Then what we need to do is catch up to that ship. Disable it, take it over, and get them back." said Kraan.

"We're technologically outmatched in every way. A rescue attempt would be suicide." said Telrass. "We need to gather with the rest of the fleet... to balance the terms of the next engagement."

"Our comms are down and most of the fleets on the other side of the galaxy right now. By the time we've "gathered" it'll be too late and there won't be an Arkadia to save." said Sandra

"I'm afraid he's right. It's up to us to stop them." said Alaara.

"How?!" said Telrass.

"I have a plan." Austin finally replied. He didn't sound fully confident though.

"You've got a plan?" Telrass asked questionably.

"Yes." Austin replied, slightly hesitant. "Well... I have part of a plan."

"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Kraan asked.

"You don't get to ask questions after that nonsense you pulled on Horizon!" said Alaara crossly.

"I just saved your asses!" Kraan argued.

"We've already established that you blowing up a dropship and causing to nearly kill us as it crashed is not "saving" us." said Dash.

"When did we establish that?"

"Like 3 seconds ago!"

"Well I wasn't listening. I was thinking of something else."

"She's right, you don't get an opinion." said Telrass. "What percentage?"

"I don't know. 12%."

"12%?! You've gotta be shitting me, because that is not a plan."

"It's barely a concept." Leena sighed.

"You're taking her side?!" said Austin.

"It's better than 11%." said Dash optimistically.

"So what if it's better than 11%! What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Telrass argued. "They're in a massive dreadnought three times the size of our ship, we can't contact the Helldiver fleets because our communications are damaged, we can't try and rally them because it'll take too long, and you say you've only got 12% of a plan. The odds are not in our favour."

"ENOUGH!" Sandra shouted. Quite surprising for her. "This argument is getting us nowhere! If we're gonna stop them, we need to work together and stop fighting amongst each other. If we can't even do that, they've already won."

"Never heard you shout before, Sandra. It's kind of hot." Alaara smiled. However she noticed everyone giving her an odd look. "Bad timing?"

"Very." said Austin. "The point is, none of us are going to stand by while those Batarians murder billions of innocent people, be they human or otherwise.

"But stopping them... Even for us, its impossible." said Telrass. "You're asking us to die."

"Yeah. I guess I am." Austin sighed.

A long silence of hopelessness followed before finally being broken by Alaara.

"Shepard, I have lived most of my life surrounded by bad people. I would be grateful, to die among my friends." she said.

"You are our leader, and a hell of an ass kicker, Shepard. I will fight beside you." said Leena. "And in the end, I'll see my old love again."

"My blade arms are yours, Shepard." said Sandra.

"Kraan?"

"Course I'm with you. You wouldn't last a day without me." the Krogan smiled.

"I could say no, but that would create a major plot hole in this story." said Dash.

"You know , Dash. You are the weirdest guy I've ever met. But hell, maybe we just might need a little crazy." Austin sighed.

"I'm with you all to the end as well. Not about to let Kraan get all the kills." said Ventra.

"And you, Telrass?"

"You think we can do this? Why not." Telrass shrugged.

"Alright then. If this is to be the end for us, then we'll take them with us!"

"HOORAH!"

"And that whole scene totally wasn't just taken from Guardians of the Galaxy because the author thought it'd be funny." Dash mumbled sarcastically.

"SHUT UP, DASH!"

"Okay. Here's what we're gonna do." said Austin as he pulled up a holo map of the ship that Leena had managed to acquire from one of the dead Batarians from Horizon. He also pulled up a galaxy map alongside.

"The ship has impenetrable shields and armour, so we can't use conventional weapons. However, we ourselves can make it through. The plan is that we'll space jump onto the hull of the ship. We'll get inside, find the other Helldivers, disable the shields long enough for Alexa to dock, get off the ship and we then make them chase us away from Arkadia... into here."

Austin indicated to a spot on the galaxy map which zoomed to show what was unmistakably...

"But... there's a black hole there." said Ventra.

"Precisely." said Austin. "Even with its shields down, our weapons won't have any guaranteed effect, so our best option is to lure them close enough to the black hole."

"That's it?" Telrass asked.

"That's it."

"It's certainly a plan but... the likelihood of this succeeding is less than 4.3%." said Leena.

"Don't start going all Spock on us now, Leena." said Dash.

"But still, this is practically a suicide mission. The odds aren't in our favour and there is a good chance we will die." said Leena.

"But at least we'll take those Batarians with us." said Austin. "If this is to be our end, then we will face it together. Any questions?"

"If any part of this doesn't work... what's plan b?" Dash asked.

"There is no plan b, Dash. It's either this, or nothing. Or we just hope the rest of the Helldiver fleet can take that ship down." said Austin. "But I have faith this'll work. We take 'em down and save our home, or we die trying."

"Certainty of death, small chance of success... what are we waiting for?!" Kraan asked rhetorically.

"I'd recommend you all get some rest, everyone. I need you fully focused for what is to come. This may be a suicide mission, but as long as I'm in command of this squad, I'm damn well gonna do all I can to make us live to tell about this."

* * *

Austin walked down the hallway where everyone's quarters on the ship were. Mostly everyone was still in bed, but a few had gotten up early. One of them Austin thought would've been Alaara, but at the moment he couldn't find her. He would've thought his lieutenant would be up just as early. Then again, Alaara had never totally been by the book.

Seeing that Sandra was still in her room, he decided to at least ask.

"Sandra?" he asked as he knocked.

"Yeah?" the comm expert replied from within.

The door then unlocked and opened. Sandra was still in bed and had the covers over her so that she wasn't exposed in front of her squad leader.

"Just letting you know, we're approaching the relay. We'll be at Arkadia shortly." said Austin.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes." Sandra yawned.

"Have you seen Alaara by the way? I checked her room, but she wasn't there. Not usually like her." Austin asked.

"Haven't seen her myself. Maybe she's down in the armoury." Sandra shrugged.

"Maybe." said Austin.

There was a tiny hint of suspicion in his voice. It did look like Sandra was making a bit more effort than was actually necessary to cover herself. Something about Sandra's voice also sounded impatient, as though she were waiting for Austin to leave. Was she hiding something?

Whatever the reason though, it wasn't hugely important right now. Alpha had an upcoming fight to focus on after all.

"Okay. See you in 20 minutes then."

With that, Austin left and the door closed behind him. Sandra quickly locked it again. As soon as she did, the covers suddenly flew off to reveal someone what Sandra had actually been hiding.

"You think he knew I was here?" Alaara asked cautiously.

"No. I think we're good." said Sandra.

The two relaxed and lay back down.

"So... what happens now? Are we... What did this mean?" Alaara asked.

"Now, we both decide what happens next." said Sandra.

"It feels so strange. I never thought I'd take a bondmate, let alone a human. Errr, no offense."

"None taken. Believe me, I feel the same. I never even knew I was truly into other women."

"Well, technically..."

"I know. I know."

The two simply stared at each other for a moment, both almost hypnotised by the sight of each other. Alaara then surprisingly rolled on top of Sandra and kissed her. It was almost a minute before they finally separated.

"I love, Sandra." said Alaara passionately as she stroked her bondmate's dark hair. "Perhaps, I shouldn't have said that. Too much too soon. Why am I being such a baby about this?"

Her babbling however was quickly stopped by Sandra, first with a finger to the Asari's lips, and then a kiss.

"I love you too, Alaara." the human smiled.

"What are we gonna tell the others though? That's what I'm really nervous about." Alaara asked.

"Well Dash is obviously gonna make some rude joke. We know what he's like." Sandra sighed. "As for the others, I just don't know. Especially since you're the second in command of this squad."

"Then perhaps its better we don't tell them yet." Alaara suggested. "Wait until the right time, maybe. What we have... I really feel as though I want us to work."

"I do too. And you're right. Maybe now isn't the best time to tell them. Especially when we're about to undertake a possible suicide mission." Sandra agreed.

"Speaking of which, we'd better get ready." said Alaara as she gently got off her new bondmate and got out of bed. "I should go on ahead so they don't suspect anything."

"Right."

As Alaara worked on getting dressed, Sandra was unable to resist staring at her. Even though she'd had the entire night seeing the Asari naked, and had seen her naked plenty of other times before that, she still found it hard to tear her eyes away. Despite some of the occasional scaring the Asari had (some of which looked suspiciously like scars from sexual torture) they did very little to ruin her well sculpted form. Little no fat, nice and firm muscles, and plenty of size where it counted in "certain areas"

It was also now that Sandra fully noticed that Alaara's beasts had returned to their normal size. Though she wasn't' surprised, it was almost a little disappointing. Because of how much Alaara had managed to enlarge them last night through the use of the Union Only abilities that Asari very secretly possessed, it almost made her natural size look tiny in comparison.

"Have I ever told you how sexy you look naked?" the human asked.

"I believe you did just last night when I had your head down below." the Asari smiled, fully aware that she was being watched from behind.

"I see the stories they tell of Asari endurance are not exaggerated."

"Oh, there are stories now are there?" Alaara chuckled.

"You have no idea, lover." Sandra smiled as she too then started getting dressed. "Seriously though, before you go... I just wanted to say, thank you. I didn't think I'd ever find someone to truly love until I met you."

"I know." said Alaara, finally zipping up her suit mesh. "If we get out of this alive, I'm gonna make sure we have a victory celebration like no other."

* * *

It was quite fortunate actually that the Endeavour had been fitted with a stealth drive. It was still very much experimental, but right now that was hardly Alpha's top concern. What mattered was that it worked because all the Batarians had to do was just detect them on their sensors and they'd be history.

As the ship cleared the relay, Alpha could already see the massive Batarian ship getting close to Arkadia. It had already made short work of the planet's defence fleet and was getting ready to drop off troops. Alpha would have to act fast.

"Alright, people. This is it." said Austin. "You all know what's at stake here. So no heroics. We stick to our plan, and hopefully we just might make it off alive."

Once the dropship had got close enough, the side door opened.

"Good luck, Alpha." said Alexa. "Give 'em hell."

Everyone jumped, letting the lack of gravity slowly move them towards the ship's hull. As the all touched down, Leena began hacking the airlock they'd landed beside.

 _"Okay. If there's any sense of design in this ship, you should be entering somewhere near the cargo bay. Shouldn't' be a soul in sight."_ said Telrass through the comm.

Since Telrass was not a Helldiver she'd reluctantly had to sit this one out. She was however managing to make use of the Endeavour's tactical technology and was currently monitoring everyone's life signs and visual feeds. In a way she was almost serving the role of Alpha's overseer, which meant that she was now _serving as Alpha's key source of mission briefing, Intel and logistical support._

_Overseers often weren't used much with Helldiver teams due to their advanced technology doing much of the work. Still, a few squads could choose to have one if they so desired. Some squads had even been known to function even better with one, especially when they went on really important or dangerous missions._

Soon as everyone was inside, Leena closed the airlock. The air pressure then equalised and the other doo opened. As everyone filed out however, they found themselves face to face with loads of Batarians.

"Shouldn't be a soul in sight?" Leena asked Telrass irritably.

 _"Okay. My mistake."_ the Turian admitted.

"Oh bloody hellfire." Austin sighed.

"KILL THEM!"

The whole room became ablaze with gunfire and explosions. It was any wonder that this didn't' rip a whole in the ship's hull.

"We're not afraid to die!" one of the Batarians yelled.

"Good. Because we're not afraid to kill you." said Kraan suddenly appearing right next to the Batarian and blowing his head off.

Once the final Batarian had been dealt with, Austin accessed the nearest terminal.

"We need to find out where they're keeping the others." He said. "Here it is. Cell block 2187. Alaara, take half of the squad and go get them. We'll hold 'em here."

Alaara nodded and took half of Alpha with her. The others meanwhile secured the room. To try and least stop the Batarians from sending reinforcements down, Dash answered the comm.

"Errr, everything's under control. Situation normal." said Dash, using his suit's voice modifier to sound like a Batarian.

_"What happened?"_

"Uh, had a slight weapons malfunction, but everything's perfectly alright now. We're all fine here now. How are you?" Dash replied, trying his best not to stutter or slip up.

_"We're sending a squad up."_

"Uh, negative. Negative. We have a reactor leak here, so give us a few minutes to lock it down. Highly... Very dangerous." said Dash quickly.

_"Who is this? What's your operating number?"_

Realizing now he wasn't gonna fool anyone, Dash quickly took one of his pistols and shot the console, destroying it.

"Boring conversation anyway." he said. "Alaara, you better hurry up. We're gonna have company real soon."

* * *

Alaara and team 2 took it slow through the corridors. Soon they managed to reach the prison cells.

A few Batarians were keeping watch while two of them still worked on interrogating the other Helldivers. They'd of course used suit jammers on the Helldivers, hence why they weren't using their lockdowns.

"Alright, let's do this quickly and quietly. Everyone line up for a sync shot." Said Alaara.

Everyone separated and took up positions where they had clear shots at all the Batarians.

"3… 2… 1… Fire!"

The shots all fired instantaneously, killing each Batarian and causing them to fall.

With all hostiles cleared, Alpha got to work on freeing the Helldivers.

"What are you doing here?" one of them asked as Alpha worked on opening the restraints.

"Rescuing you. What does it look like?" Alaara replied. "Commander, prisoners have been secured. No casualties."

_"Roger that, Alaara. Proceeding with phase 2."_

* * *

The other team soon reached a place on the ship where Leena could hack directly into the systems.

"Leena?"

"On it." Said the Quarian.

After only a few moments though, Leena found a little problem.

"Okay. Slight complication, Shepard. This system is far more complex than I anticipated." She said.

"All I need to know is if you can hack It." said Austin.

"I can still hack it, but I'll only be able to give us a small window, after which the Batarians will regain control, lock off all the docking tubes and I won't able to hack in again. We've only got one shot at this."

"Alaara, you catch all that?" Austin asked.

 _"Affirmative._ Alaara replied.

 _"It's your call, Commander."_ Said Telrass.

Austin took a few moments to consider this before finally speaking.

"Leena... do it." he said.

Leena initiated the hack. Now Alpha just needed to find the best docking tube.

"Alright. Systems are offline. Telrass, we need to find the nearest docking tube for Alex to dock.

 _"Okay, give me a minute. Now that Leena's hack gave the ship's schematics, I should be able to find one."_ Telrass replied. There was a brief little silence. _"Okay. There's one near where you are. I'm sending coordinates to your suits."_

"Alright, Alpha. Let's get off this ship."

* * *

From inside the bridge every screen went dark and the lights flickered.

"What just happened?" the captain asked.

All the systems are down." One of the crew replied.

"Get us back online, now!"

"We're trying, sir."

"Sir, we've detected unauthorised access to one of the docking ports."

"So, those Helldivers really are on-board the ship." Said the captain. "How long until we have control of the ship again?"

"A few minutes at most."

"Send a squad after them. They must not get off this ship!"

* * *

"Alexa, we're at the docking tube." said Austin.

_"Docking now."_

From inside, the could hear the sound of Alexa docking at the tube. A few seconds later, the lights on the door changed from red to green and it opened.

"Okay, everyone in! Let's go! Let's go!" Austin yelled.

Just as everyone finished getting in, leaving only him however, he had a thought.

"I have an idea. You go on ahead." he said.

"Shepard we can't afford to wait for you. If we don't leave quickly, the ship will come back online and destroy the dropship." Alaara argued.

"Then take off and get back to the Endeavour without me. I'll find another way to get to you." said Austin.

"But..."

"That's an order, Lieutenant. Now go!" said Austin sternly. "I'll be fine. Trust me."

For a moment Alaara simply stared at Austin before finally replying.

"Yes, sir." she sighed. "Be careful, Shepard. Whatever it is you're gonna do... good luck."

"I won't need it. I'll make my own luck."

* * *

 _"Did you really think we wouldn't find you, Helldiver?"_ the Captain asked.

"Well, anything's possible. You haven't exactly impressed me today." Austin replied calmly.

_"Kill him."_

The Batarians raised their guns and prepared to fire. It was as Austin flew this back hit a door that he noticed what was undeniably an airlock button.

"Sorry I can't stay, chaps. But..." he paused for dramatic effect. "...I should go."

With that, he quickly hit the button. Only too late did the Batarians realize that he had just opened the airlock he was standing in front of. The second the door began to open, Austin immediately felt the vacuum of space pull at him. Within just a few seconds he was quickly swept off his feet and pulled at full force into space. The Batarians meanwhile desperately tried to hold onto something while one of them tried to close the airlock. Unfortunately for them, in the end they couldn't' hold on any longer and they too got spaced by the vacuum. Unlike them however, Austin didn't suffocate. His suit kept him completely safe from the vacuum and supplied him with a constant flow of clean air. He just had to hope he'd picked an airlock close enough for the dropship to spot him.

* * *

Both Alexa and Sandra were watching closely from inside the dropship's cockpit, waiting and hoping to see how Austin planned on getting to them, or what he was doing.

"Over there!" said Sandra, pointing to a sudden open airlock.

Alexa quickly noticed and maneuverer the dropship into position. She also temporarily opened the door so he could get inside. Once he was in, the door closed again and the dropship immediately headed back to the endeavour.

"Shepard, apart from Dash, you are the craziest human I've ever met. I don't know whether to kill you... or kiss you, frankly." Alaara smiled.

"What were you doing anyway?" Leena asked.

"I'll explain later." Austin replied.

* * *

On cue, the Batarian ship quickly came back online.

"That ship, take it out!" the captain ordered, pointing to the Endeavour.

"Sir, what about Arkadia?"

"I WANT ALPHA DEAD NOW!"

The ship immediately began opening fire. Rather than return fire however, the Endeavour instead turned and suddenly zoomed off into space, disappearing from sight.

"They activated their mass effect core!"

"Go after them!" the Captain yelled.

"Yes, sir."

The ship quickly followed and engaged its own mass effect core.

* * *

It was only thanks to the ship's pilots that they managed to slow down a good distance from the nearby black hole. Hopefully, if this plan worked, the Batarians would appear way closer.

"Hold on though. What's to stop them from just using their own mass effect core to escape the black hole?" Leena asked.

"Well, a certain someone might have sabotaged their core while he was on-board." said Austin smugly.

"So that's what you were doing."

"You could've just told me." said Alaara.

"The time it would've taken for me to explain wouldn't have been worth it." said Austin. "Basically, I sabotaged it enough that it can use only 1 jump. A second attempt will cause an overload and it'll explode."

Sure enough, the Batarian ship swiftly appeared as well, way close to the black hole and immediately got caught in its grip. The shear gravitational force began to tear the entire ship apart piece by piece. A small explosion as even noticeable as it's mass effect attempted to fire again.

"Commander, the enemy ship is losing power. Their shields are down." Said one of the pilots.

"Contact them." Said Austin.

"Aye"

A holo appeared on the screen of the Batarian captain. He seemed to be the only one left on the bridge. Seemed he wished to go down with his ship.

"This is Commander Austin Shepard of Alpha Squad. You're ship is compromised. Too close to the singularity to survive without assistance which we are willing to provide." Said Austin.

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Telrass asked, turning her back and lowering the volume of her voice.

"Showing them compassion. Probably the only way to earn peace with them." Said Austin.

"Well not to sound cold, but I don't think they deserve it." Said Telrass.

"I would suffer the end of my race a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you." Said the captain.

"Your choice." said Austin.

Everyone simply watched as the black hole continued to consume the Batarian ship. Pretty soon the gravity force started to crush it and it soon broke apart completely and was finally consumed, leaving nothing left.

"Well they certainly suffered a "crushing" defeat." said Dash, causing everyone to sigh a little at his bad joke.

"Pilot, turn us around. Let's go home."

* * *

Upon their return to Arkadia, Alpha had almost immediately been given a hero's welcome. Having known it was them; the Arkane Council had been quick to congratulate them and had insisted that they be publically awarded for this victory.

The entire Arkane Council and what looked like the entire population of Arkadia were gather in the massive hall.

"Today we gather to honour the heroism of this Helldiver squad. They have dealt a huge blow to the Batarians, saved a colony and above all have saved us all." Said Councillor Spartan. "Alpha Squad, words alone cannot express our gratitude for what you have done."

"Nothing more than our duty, Councillor." Said Austin modestly.

"I admire your modesty, Commander Shepard. But nevertheless, we refuse to let you go unrewarded for this." Said Councillor Tarnack.

Spartan then walked up to a Helldiver that was carrying a case of some kind. The Arkane opened it to reveal what was undeniably several medals. But not just any kind of medal…

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Dash whispered.

"Dash, be quiet." Ventra hissed.

"As councillor of Arkadia, it is my honour to present each of you with the cross of glory, the highest commendation be can bestow." Said Spartan as he placed each medal on Alpha's armour. "From this day forth, your names shall forever be known as the Heroes of the Helldivers."

The entire audience clapped and applauded.

"Now I know how the characters at the end of Star Wars must've felt." Dash whispered.

"Spirits, do you ever shut up?" Telrass groaned through gritted teeth.

"No, not while I'm awake."

Spartan then turned back to Alpha.

"I know you will probably say no, but is there anything you would ask of us?" he asked.

"Well… since one is asking, Councillor…" said Austin, casting a glance at Telrass. "Telrass Valenka has been an invaluable ally for us. It's fair to say in fact we might not have won this victory in the same way or at all without her help. Better still, her experience as a Helldiver agent makes me strongly believe that she would be a perfect candidate for the role as our overseer."

"What?" the Turian said is surprise.

"I see no reason why not, Commander. We would be more than happy to make the arrangements… assuming she wants the position." Said Tarnack.

"I must admit, I am surprised. I did not expect to be offered that sort of position." Said Telrass, just managing to hide the shock in her voice.

"I think you've earned it. Certainly your assistance while we were on-board benefited us greatly. Not to mention that your survival skills on your own against the Batarians are also to commended." Said Austin.

"I guess I can't really say no, especially in front of this crowd." Telrass sighed happily. "I accept your offer, Commander Shepard."

* * *

Now that the ceremony was over, the celebrations had begun. Despite their new popularity, Alpha had managed to find a spot where they could have some drinks in peace. It was fair to say though that no one celebrated like Helldiver.

"Damn, Leena! I knew you were touch, but I've never seen a Quarian dare drink a whole pint of ryncol without vomiting and passing out!" said Kraan, trying to keep his balance despite that he was definitely the drunkest out of all them.

"I drunk some acid once and still survived. This is nothing compared to that." Leena laughed as she detached the "straw" from the port on her helmet.

"Wait, you drank some acid?" Ventra asked in surprise, and slight worry.

"By accident of course." Leena added.

"So… what happens now?" Alaara asked

"We do we as we've always been doing, Ventra. We do our job, and give our enemies hell." Austin smiled as he poured himself a drink.

"Here's to giving 'em hell then!" Kraan cheered as he raised his glass. Everyone else also did so and finally drank.

"Anyone know any good drinking songs?" Dash asked a little drunkenly after downing his drink.

Kraan started, then the rest of squad quickly joined in. Even Austin and Leena, who weren't often known for this kind of thing.

_"NOOOOOOONE CAN BEAT THE HELLDIVERS, 'CAUSE WE'LL HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS! UNLESS YOU KNOW A TAVERN WITH LOOSE CARDS AND LOOSER SKIRTS! FOR EVERY BLOODY BATTLEFIELD, WE'LL GLADLY RAISE A CUP! NO MATTER WHAT TOMORROW HOLDS, OUR GUNS BE POINTING UP! WE'LL FIGHT UNTIL THE END, AND UNTIL YOU'RE DEAD AS WELL! WE'll DIVE HEADFIRST INTO BATTLE AND WE'LL ALWAYS GIVE 'EM HELL!"_

* * *

Videos of Alpha's victory ceremony played across the many holographic screens. A figure sat behind them on a throne of some kind, almost completely hidden in the shadows. He examined the videos very closely. These particular Helldivers weren't like the others. Something made them different. Not to mention they had just won this special victory and were now seen as heroes. It remained to be seen what the future brought for them, but he would definitely be keeping his eye on them from now on. The last thing he needed was them interfering.

As he finally turned the screens off and settled more comfortably into his throne to think, the massive symbol that had been hanging over him the whole time was slowly revealed out of the shadows. A ring of skulls, each one of every alien race in the entire galaxy.

In the centre, half the skull of a human. The other half, what was left of the battered and severally beaten helmet of a dead Helldiver…

* * *

**Definitely the last two ending scenes I'm very happy with. One shows that Alpha are all friends, and the other... well, you get the idea.  
**

**Now I defintiely promise the next one will be upa lot sooner. I've been looking forward to the next one for quite a while, and I've already had most of the dialogue written down for months.**

**And if I do break that promise... you have permission to write as many hateful comments as you like.**

**One or two other things to say. I will admit right now that the final battle in this chapter was a bit anti climatic. Hopefully in the future I'll make some changes to rectify that.**

**Also regarding the bit with Alaara and Sandra. They are indeed in a relationship now and I aplogise for there being no sex scene. We will see a flashback of it in a later chapter though, that I can 100% guarantee.**

**See you soon. Sorry again for the delay.**


	13. Chapter 13, Hellraiser

**Man I am in a good mood right now! :)**

**I finished this chapter in just 3 days, I'm very happy with it and I had so much fun writing it!**

**I've been looking forward to this particular chapter for quite some time, so to finally get to do it at long last after the multiple delays for chapter 12 was a very nice feeling. Now I could relax and get back into gear for this fanfiction again.**

**Also forgot to metnion a few things last time in chapter 12 I think you might be interested in (concerning me) that happened during the long months between chapters.  
**

**First of all, I finished college for the last time. The course I was doing was meant to be 2 years, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the previous one I was doing back when doing the ME trilogy. So I decided not to return for year 2. That and also (and this is the big news) I got a job! Now getting paid and everything.**

**No more having to get up early, no more coursework, no more deadlines, and I'm getting paid. Things have gone very well for me.**

**Even used some of my new pay to get some major upgrades for my PC.**

**Anyway, enough about em now. The chapter.**

**There's an awful lot of references in this one, some of them rather obvious, but I'm still very happy with it. As I said before, I had a tremendous amount of fun writing it.**

**So please do enjoy! :)**

* * *

**YEAR 4, The Rise of Hellspawn**

**2176: 4 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**11 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"So there we were. The Heroes of the Helldivers. After that, things seemed t get even better for us. We were allowed access to some even better equipment. There was on in-particular that really stood out of all of them that Dash made sure we put to incredibly good use. But our happiness was not to last. We had supposedly dealt with the worst that could be thrown at us. It was at this point that were about to find out just how wrong we were. This is how it happened. This… is how Hellspawn came forth…_

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Hellraiser**

A year had passed since Alpha's legendary victory. Since then, things had gotten even better for them. They'd been allowed access to lots of new equipment, a new dropship and they now operated a huge new way thanks to their new Overseer.

Right now, they were being given another new one by the Council. There was something interesting about it though.

 _"I assume you've been hearing about the recent raids that have been going on?"_ Spartan's hologram asked.

"Hard not to. Everyone talking about them." Austin replied.

 _"Cerberus is undoubtedly the most likely culprits, but without firm evidence we don't know for certain. Also these raids are completely random. We have been requested to provide escorts, but we have no idea the full extent of this problem. That is where you come in."_ said Tarnack.

 _"Xun has recently managed to dig up a lead that could help us find out which cargo shipment will be next to be hit. Apparently a man named Jack Daniels may know. Your mission is to find him, get the information room him, intercept the next raid and assess the full extent of these raids and above all find out who is responsible."_ One of the Councillors said.

"Where can we find this Jack Daniels?"

"Xun's intel suggests he is in a casino in Monaco. For a squad like you, this mission should be a walk in the park." Said Spartan.

"We'll get right on it, Councillors. We'll report back when we have something." Said Austin.

_"Good luck out there, Alpha."_

* * *

To avoid attracting any unwanted attention, Alpha had made Alexa drop them off on the roof of the casino on the side facing the sea.

"Overseer, this is Alpha. Checking comms. You read us?" Austin asked into his comm.

 _"Alpha, this is Overseer, reading you load and clear. Signal's strong, visual feeds are clear, everything's good on our end."_ Telrass replied.

"So, how does it feel to be watching over everyone?" Alaara asked.

 _"Honestly? I'm starting to wish you'd offered me this job sooner."_ Said Telrass. _"Anyway, just so I'm clear on your plan, you mind running it by me again?"_

"Simple really. We capture Daniels, get him out of here, make him reveal which supply transport is next to get hit, and who's behind this." Said Austin.

"Guns blazing, or stealth?" asked Ventra.

"Have a guess."

"Stealth it is then."

"First things first though, we need a way into the casino without being detected." Said Austin. "Overseer, Alpha, we need a way into the casino without being detected."

_"Copy that. Searching schematics now."_

"I love all the things we have to say now. Makes me feel like we're legendary professionals." Said Dash.

_"For once, I actually agree with him."_

_"Okay, there are some air ducts on the roof that should get you inside. The rest will have to be up to you once you're inside."_

"Copy that, Overseer."

"Gah. Vents. Why did it have to be vents?" Leena groaned.

"Where's this come from? You're an engineer. Crawling in vents is your thing." Said Ventra.

"Not when you've got wide shoulders and you weigh almost a tone. That's why I broke the Christmas tree two years back." Said Leena.

"You're not the only one that's done that, you know." Said Dash.

"Yes, we have told you a thousand times to stop skateboarding in the living room." Said Sandra.

"That's enough, Alpha. Stay focused." Austin interrupted. "Now, we just need to figure out which duct each of us should take."

* * *

As it turned out, crawling through the ducts hadn't been that easy or for that matter comfortable.

Austin managed to clear his without incident, but Sandra and Alaara ended up landing right on top of him.

"Ow."

"Landed right on my sai." Sandra groaned.

"This was **our** Overseer's idea, Shepard." Leena groaned, just managing to squeeze out of her vent with Ventra following behind.

"Whose hand is that?" Alaara asked.

"Sorry." Sandra apologised as everyone got up.

 _"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"_ Alaara whispered.

 _"Course I did."_ Sandra smiled.

"Where are Dash and Kraan?" Austin asked, a little worriedly.

He soon got an answer however.

"Look out below!"

Everyone looked up to the duct they were all standing right under, and it already sounded like something massive was coming down it.

"Uh oh."

Kraan appeared first. Just when it looked like he was gonna crash into everyone however, he suddenly got stuck at the end.

"Phew. That was lucky." Said Ventra.

"Give me a hand here. I'm stuck." Kraan groaned as he tried to get out.

Austin and Leena took hold of Kraan's hands and managed to pull him out. In doing so however, he ended up falling on top of them. Dash then soon followed, landing on all of them.

"That was fun." He smiled.

"Get off me!" Kraan groaned as he pushed the scout off.

With that little mishap out of the way though, Alpha returned to their mission. They had all come out right above the main casino floor. Only a glass ceiling stood between them and the unsuspecting people below.

"Okay, let's see what we can see." Said Austin, taking a device from his belt which quickly cut a hole in the glass and then lifted it away. Giving everyone a perfect view of what was beneath them.

"Now, Jack Daniels is a very heavy gambler. He's in here somewhere." Said Austin. "Overseer, we're gonna need an ID verification on Jack Daniels."

" _Copy that. Sending it to you now."_

Everyone's HUD soon showed a picture of their target. A quick scan of the room below soon found a match.

"Positive match. There he is." Said Alaara.

Daniels was at one of the roulette tables surrounded by quite a few people watching the game. In fairness, he wasn't doing that bad.

"He certainly likes to play dangerous, I'll give him that much." Said Dash

"What's the plan then, Boss?" Kraan asked.

"Leena, you in position?" Austin asked into his comm

 _"Ready and waiting, Commander."_ Leena replied.

Having separated from the group, Leena had gone to the main power room.

"In exactly 2 minutes and 17 seconds, cut the power." Austin instructed. "When the lights are out, we drop down, grab Daniels, get back up here out of sight, and we're out of here."

"Taking him alive then?" Kraan asked.

"Obviously."

"Fine." The Krogan sighed.

Everyone took their repelling liens and readied to drop down through the hole in the ceiling.

"Okay. Ready in 3… 2…" but before Austin could say "1" everyone suddenly heard what was undeniably the sound of cracking glass. "Please tell me that's not the glass."

Everyone looked at Kraan hoping to hell that they were wrong. Unfortunately, they weren't. From under the Krogan's feet were the undeniable signs of the glass cracking, and unfortunately for them it was barely seconds from completely breaking apart.

"That's not good." Kraan sighed.

"You fat fu…"

The glass ceiling smashed apart and everyone fell right onto the roulette table, completely destroying it under all their weight.

The entire casino almost immediately fell silent and froze as they stared this sudden unexpected appearance of 6 Helldivers who had just fallen out of the ceiling.

Errrr… bonjour?" Dash tried to say innocently.

Kraan meanwhile was trying to push everyone off of him, since they'd once again landed on top of him. In the process he accidently ended up pulling the trigger on of his guns. The resulting shot caused the entire crowd to scream and panic and they immediately run for the exits.

Before Daniels had a chance to disappear into the crowd, everyone immediately drew their weapons on him.

"Don't move!" Austin ordered.

"What is the meaning of this?! You have no firm evidence I've done anything wrong." The human said crossly.

"You've got some important intel we need, Mr Daniels." Said Austin. "And since you're not willing to share with us, we're sorry about this."

"Huh?"

Kraan then suddenly brought the butt of his rifle right into Daniel's forehead, knocking him clean out. The Krogan then hoisted the unconscious human onto his shoulder.

"Got him. Let's get out of here." Said Alaara.

 _"Shepard, what's going on in there?"_ Leena asked, obviously having heard the commotion.

"Long story, Leena. Kill the lights, now!"

On cue, the lights went off. However, after only a few brief seconds, they suddenly came back on again. Then they suddenly started to flash on and off continuously.

"Are the lights supposed to do that?!" Ventra asked confusedly.

"Leena, what are you doing?" Austin asked.

 _"Little busy right now!"_ Leena replied, sounding as though she was in a struggle.

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot then confirmed this. Before Austin could give the order for Alpha to head to the power room to help Leena however, there was then the sound of a body falling and the lights went out again.

Using their night vision, they then spotted Leena.

"Sorry about that. One of Daniel's bodyguards tried to kill me." She said.

"Anyway, let's make our heroic escape." Said Dash.

Just as Alpha were about to reach the exits however, every one of them was suddenly covered by a shutter.

"Oh no."

"Lockdown, ay?" Dash asked challengingly.

"What do we do?" Alaara asked.

"Hold this a minute." Said Kraan as he handed Leena Daniels' unconscious body. "Alright, everybody, stand back. I got this."

The Krogan then charged right at the shutter. The outcome however… was not as expected. The worst damage Kraan managed to do was create a massive cartoonish dent of himself in the shutter.

"Never mind." The Krogan groaned dizzily.

"And you say I'm a headache for you." Said Dash. "Guess I'm gonna have to break the surprise early."

The Scout then took a small device from his belt. It unfolded into what oddly looked like an old earthen gamepad from the 21st century. Dash then pressed the back button.

"What are you doing?" Sandra asked suspiciously.

 **"Evening the odds."** Dash smiled.

Everyone's head immediately turned as something massive suddenly smashed right through the doors. It was a vehicle of some kind, but unlike any Alpha had ever seen before.

"What the…"

The massive vehicle was indeed massive. Larger than an Alliance Mako. Nearly 3 metres tall and 5 metres long in fact. It had six massive off road wheels that were large enough to be half the size of a human.

Despite being painted black, it was undeniably some kind of tank. It had the metallic look and shape of one. It was all angles and straight lines. It was uniquely shaped though. Something about the front had a very Rhino like shape to it. It even had a few spikes here and there, two on top of the front especially to give a horn battering ram like appearance. No wonder it had just smashed through the wall.

Various other tool accessories decorated the vehicle in the same way they would on a normal military vehicle. A spade, an axe, a hammer, some other smaller tools designed for if there was any problems, a winch on the front and even a spare wheel on the front left hand side. There was also a chain that seemed to go across the vehicle. Though it didn't seem relevant, it did somehow give this vehicle a tougher and almost monster truck like appearance. There was also a 60mm cannon on the top right hand side with both a riot suppressor and minigun attached to either side of the cannon.

Another noticeable thing was a spoiler on the back. It appeared t server the purpose of both providing downforce and being air brake. As the vehicle started to slow down, the spoiler and several other flaps on the body and the ones covering the wheels changed their angle, providing more stopping power.

From the looks of things at the front it only had had one windshield which was were the driver was meant to sit on the right. The other side was just black and armoured.

As the vehicle headed towards Alpha, it then turned and braked into a power slide so that its left side was now facing them. Alpha barely had any time to react as the vehicle headed at them. Just as it looked like it was gonna run them over however, a door on the side suddenly opened and as the vehicle power slid at them, they all went right through and into the vehicle itself. Only Dash was an exception. He instead jumped. The vehicle went under him just enough as the driver cockpit opened and he landed perfectly inside.

The interior of the vehicle was unsurprisingly spacious. There two rows of eight seats on either side. Clearly this thing was meant for carrying troops. For a military vehicle however the seats looked surprisingly comfortable. They were even on a slight incline so that the occupant was leant back.

Two more seats were up front. On the right and slightly elevated, the driver's seat where Dash was sitting and the left a passenger seat. It was in darkness because there was no window, but it had plenty of technology. Obviously designed for navigation and other such things.

Alpha picked themselves up, still a little in shock at what had just happened. This thing had just come out of nowhere.

"Where the hell did this come from?" Austin asked in amazement.

"Welcome, my friends to the HK93 Rumbler Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Or as I prefer to call it…" he paused for dramatic effect. "The Hellraiser! What do you think? Perfect name, huh?"

"That… actually **is** the perfect name." Kraan said in amazement.

"Of course it is, brah. You guys always underestimate me." Dah smiled. It was impossible for him to hide how smug he was being. "Now find a seat and strap in. We're out of here."

Despite this vehicle's sudden appearance, Alpha didn't feel like asking questions right now, especially under the current circumstances so they did as Dash had said. They each found a seat and sat down. Sure enough, the seats were indeed rather comfortable. Quite surprising.

At first, Alpha struggled to find any harnesses. Austin however soon realized it didn't have any. It actually had restraints more like what someone would find on a roller coaster. They folded down and secured the occupant in place. Everyone soon followed and secured their own harnesses. Daniels was put in one of the far ones at the end, still unconscious. Sandra meanwhile took the front left passenger seat.

"You know it's funny. My mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men." Said Alaara as she secured her restraint.

"Trust me, Alaara…" said Dash as he started the engine. A massive roar suddenly bellowed from the Hellraiser, making everyone jump with surprise as the engine fired up. The loudness was almost deafening. It almost sounded more like the roar of a mighty animal rather than an engine. " **This isn't a car**."

The Hellraiser accelerated almost immediately. Alpha instantly felt the force of the acceleration try to pull them to one side. They could see why Dash had insisted on them strapping in tight. It was anyone's guess of just how much power the engine in this thing had.

The vehicle performed several donuts, taking out all the nearby columns of the casino before finally speeding out of the entrance, landing on a nearby car in the process which became completely crushed by the Hellraiser's immense weight.

"Whoops. Sorry." Said Dash, though admittedly he sounded more sarcastic about it than sorry.

He immediately accelerated again. The Hellraiser's wheels temporarily spun as they found grip on the crushed car, crushing it even more. Finally, the vehicle sped off into the streets.

* * *

From a nearby rooftop, a cloaked figure observed the whole thing from her sniper rifle. She had to admit, she was surprised to see Alpha again this soon after their last encounter. Nevertheless, she'd made a promise that she'd kill them next time they met, and The Helldiver Slayer kept her promises.

"Poor, poor animals. You should never have left the forest." She said. "Now you deal with me."

This time, the Slayer wasn't alone either. She'd be having some assistance for this little chase.

_"We've got a fix on Alpha, they're in a vehicle."_

_"Make and colour?"_

_"Err, it's a black, six wheeled… tank."_

* * *

The Hellraiser sped through the streets of Monaco, weaving in and out in-between other ground based vehicles. Credit where it was due, Dash was controlling this thing very well. He also hadn't tried to hit something just for fun. Well… not yet anyway.

"Overseer, this is Alpha. We have the target and are now en route to the rendezvous point. Keep your eyes peeled for a… massive black tank." Said Austin.

"And the fact that it's being driven by Dash." Kraan added.

 _"Roger that. Don't keep us waiting."_ Said Telrass.

"You heard her, Dash. Let's move it!"

Dash quickly complied and settled into the cruise.

"You know it's a weird feeling being in this. I'm partly worried about bumping into things because it's so big, and at the same time not worried about bumping into things because, well, who cares?" said Dash.

It wasn't' long however before Sandra suddenly spotted something in the rear view display. Several bikes appeared to be following them, and the leader looked frighteningly familiar.

"We've got them." Said the Slayer.

"Der'mo! Slayer on our tail." Said Sandra.

Dash also looked at the rear view feed to confirm this. Turned the rest of the squad could as well.

Over each seat was a small console with a screen in the middle allowing the squad to see different views outside of the vehicle as well as other things if they wished.

"Pedal to the metal, Dash." Said Austin.

"Bikes against this thing? They're gonna be eating our dust." Said Dash as he accelerated fully.

The bikes were quick to give chase as they followed.

"ETA to rendezvous point?" Austin asked.

"2 minutes, 37 seconds, sir." Said Dash.

"Are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" Sandra asked worriedly, holding on for dear life to her harness, not just because of her usual travel sickness, but also because Dash's driving was starting to get a bit scary as he pulled all sorts of power slides and was barely using the brakes.

"Of course I do." Said Dash confidently.

"Are you sure he even **should** be driving this thing?" said Kraan, sounding just as worried. "A massive six wheeled tank with a cannon and minigun on the roof, driven by him?"

"I'll have you know, Kraan. I'm the only one of this team that has a license, and is actually qualified to operate this thing." Said Dash.

"He does have a point." Ventra admitted.

"Fair enough. Just try not to park us up a tree." Said Alaara.

"Noted." Said Dash. "Recommend you all hold tight though. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Please make sure your seats and tray tables are in their upright and locked positions."

Despite the many twists and turns of Monaco's streets and the many different vehicles on the roads, the Hellraiser just seemed to keep getting faster. A few accidental moves on Dash's part did cause him to take out a few café stalls, but he didn't' run anyone over which was at least a relief.

The Slayer and the rest of her men however stayed on the vehicles tail, even the debris failed to get in their way.

"She's gaining on us!" Sandra warned.

"I've got just the thing for her." Said Dash. "Deploying oil slick."

Sure enough a quick press of one of the buttons on the dashboard deployed a large slick of oil from the Hellraiser's rear.

Despite this though, the pursuing bikes just kept going. Were they really gonna try and drive through that?

The Slayer's bike went first. Surprisingly though, the Slayer actually tried to stand up on her bike. Just as the bike's front wheels started to touch the oil, she suddenly jumped using her biotics and leapt right over all the oil, pulling the bike with her. She then flipped. The bike landed first, completely clear of the oil and then she landed back on it.

Since the rest of her men weren't able to do that, they had to try and drive through. A few of the ones on the far side were able to drive around the oil. Most of them managed but one ended up slipping and fell right off. Another made it, but ended up colliding with another car, knocking him right off his bike. The rest continued following the Slayer.

"Now that's just cheating!" said Sandra.

"She's persistent, I'll give her that." Said Dash.

One of the bikes attempted to get close to the Hellraiser, even going ahead of the Slayer. That however was a huge mistake as there was a reason the Slayer was keeping her distance.

Dash immediately pulled a sharp turn causing back right side of the Hellraiser to crash right into the back sending both it and the biker flying.

Austin could tell Dash was dying to say a one liner after that, and he a feeling he knew which one.

"Go on then, Dash. You can say it." He sighed.

"That guy's on a roll." Said Dash.

Everyone just shook their heads and sighed with a slight chuckle.

It quickly changed back to slight fear however when Dash pulled another right and went through a tunnel rather than going left and his speed continued increasing.

"Dash, slow down! You're going the wrong way!" Sandra yelled.

"This is a shortcut." Dash argued.

"You were supposed to go right back there!" said Sandra.

"Stop backseat driving!"

"I'm not backseat driving, I'm passenger seat driving."

During the argument however, they failed to notice the Slayer come up behind and then get alongside them. It was as the Slayer fired a few gunshots however the argument was interrupted. Unsurprisingly though, the shots barely did anything and simply bounced of the Hellraiser's armour. It was a tank after all, what had the Slayer expected?

"Okay then, Slayer. You asked for this." Said Dash.

He then forced the Hellraiser to the right. The Slayer just managed to jump onto the vehicle as it crushed her bike against the wall of the tunnel.

"She's on the roof!" Alaara yelled.

"This should get her off." Said Dash as he readied to push a red button on the top right of the steering wheel.

"What does that do?" Austin asked nervously.

"This? Oh, it just triggers the afterburner." Dash replied.

"Afterburner?!"

Rather than elaborate, Dash instead just pressed the button. The afterburner on the back of the Hellraiser immediately fired and the entire vehicle shot forward at incredible speed. Had anyone not been wearing a harness they would almost certainly have been flung against the very back.

The Slayer tried to hold on, but the shear speed so fast that ultimately her hands couldn't' hold on and she was forced to let go.

"Okay, Dash, we lost her! Maybe you can slow down now?!" Austin managed to say as he held onto his harness for dear life.

"I'm trying! The brakes aren't responding!" said Dash, continuously trying to stop the Hellraiser with no success.

"If we die in this thing, Dash, I'm gonna kill you!" Kraan yelled.

The Hellraiser continued with stopping. Eventually it ran out of road as they were driving right at the edge of a cliff. The vehicle crashed through both a set of roadworks and the railings on the cliff's edge.

Everyone, even Leena, screamed. Well, Dash also didn't scream either, he instead just laughed.

After what felt like a terrifying several minutes, the Hellraiser finally landed on the roof of a building. It spun quite a few times as Dash struggled to regain control before finally settling, just barely less than a centimetre from falling off the edge of the building.

"Everybody okay back there?" Dash asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Heehee! Let's do that again." Alaara laughed dizzily.

"Dash, is there a sick bucket anywhere?" Sandra groaned.

"No, but there's toilet in the back…" Dash replied.

The very second he said that, Sandra immediately bolted out of her seat, ran all the way to the toilet and threw up right in it for several seconds before finally stopping. She looked terrible.

"Thought you were taking pills to stop that from happening." Said Dash.

"I did and they've worked up till now. You driving is so crazy that not even the pills could've stopped me from doing that." Sandra groaned, taking deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

"It wasn't that bad." Dash argued.

"You nearly got us killed!" Sandra yelled.

"I know. You don't find that exciting?"

"NO!" everyone yelled simultaneously.

"Everyone's a critic." Dash mumbled. "Anyway, we're at the rendezvous point, so Alexa should be here soon. Let's get out and pop a flair so she can see us."

"How's she gonna transport this thing though?" Ventra asked.

"You'll see."

Everyone except Dash got out and Alaara lit a green flair.

Sure enough, Alexa soon came into view.

Only a few days prior to this mission, they'd recently got a new dropship. This new one was three times as large as the original Hellhound and to be fair was actually classified as a gunboat.

As the gunboat hovered over the roof of the building, it slowly descended down. It was now that Alpha suddenly noticed there was a surprisingly large slot in the centre at the bottom. That hadn't bene there earlier when they'd headed out.

As the gunboat descended, the Hellraiser fitted almost perfectly into the slot. Locks then engaged, locking the vehicle firmly in place, leaving just it's wheels exposed at the bottom.

"So that's why Dash insisted we get this new gunboat." Said Austin.

 _"I wanted it too actually as well."_ Said Alexa.

The gunboat then started to take off, taking the Hellraiser with it.

"Errr, what are you doing? We're not on-board!" said Austin.

The gunboat then did a gentle turn so that it's right side faced them. The side door then opened to show Telrass standing there. A ladder then fell down.

"Wanted to show that off as well." Said Alexa.

"Have to admit, that's cool." Said Sandra.

The sudden loud sound of metal clanging attracted everyone's attention. Everyone turned to the source of the noise to see the Slayer suddenly burst out of the door and the nearest building and drive right at them on another bike.

"Oh no."

The Slayer continued driving and jumped right off the building, now heading right at them. At first, the length of her jump didn't' look enough and it looked like she was going to miss the roof they were on. However as the bike started to fall, the Slayer then activated her biotics and pushed against the bike to jump.

"Everybody, up the ladder! Go!" Austin yelled.

The Slayer completed her jump with a role and landed on the roof, unfolding her telescopic bow staff as she did. True Alpha could've just fought her, but given what happened last time they weren't' sure of that. Also with Daniels on-board the gunboat, they could not afford the chance of the Slayer getting to him. No doubt he was her real target.

 _"Deploy the gun!"_ Alexa yelled.

The massive gun on the bottom of the gunboat activated, aimed at the Slayer and the gunner opened fire. The Slayer however threw up a biotic shield around herself. Each round became absorbed by the biotic field.

This allowed Alpha the chance to escape though. The Slayer couldn't' go after them and maintain her shield at the same time. If her biotic shield failed, one round from the gun would rip her apart.

Just as there was only Austin and Sandra left however, the gunboat's gun suddenly sparked and stopped firing.

 _"The gun's jammed!"_ the gunner yelled.

Deactivating her biotic shield, the Slayer continued her advance.

"Come on, Sandra!" Austin yelled, holding his hand out of Sandra just as the gunboat was beginning to move away, taking the ladder with everyone else on it with it.

Sandra jumped and managed to grab Austin's hand. Right as she did however, the Slayer suddenly fired a grappling hook at her which latched onto the back of her neck. The pulling force of the Slayer was strong enough that Sandra lost her grip on Austin hand.

"SANDRA!" Alaara yelled.

Austin just managed though to grab onto Sandra's leg and held on as best he could.

Got ya!"

"Leaving so soon, Alpha?" the Slayer tautened as she attempted to pull Sandra out of Austin's grip.

"Put your back into it, Alexa. Full power!" Telrass yelled.

"Hold tight!" Alexa yelled as she pushed the thrusters all the way to full.

The full force of the gunboat's was enough to pull the Slayer off her feet. Now it was even harder for Austin keep hold of Sandra's leg. The Slayer meanwhile kept the grip on her grappling gun. Sandra all the while was treated to being upside down and flying. She was certain this was gonna make her sick again.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Telrass yelled.

The gunboat kept as Alexa tried to smack the Slayer into a building. Austin quickly saw where this was going and he managed to swing Sandra to the side, taking the Slayer with her. Due to her being on the very end of the line, the bounty hunter was now on a collision course with the nearest building.

The Slayer though noticed this too and she seemed to just remain clam about it. She instead braced for the impact and let go of the grappling gun. As she smashed through the glass window on the building she then broke into a run. She ran past all the bewildered people, over desks and tables, and right through several more walls before finally smashing out the other side of the build and grabbing back onto the grappling gun.

* * *

"This bitch is really starting to piss me off." Said Telrass.

Finally fixing the grappling gun to her belt, the Slayer started to climb up the rope. Austin knew he'd have to act fast. Using his strength, he pulled Sandra's leg up until Leena could reach it.

"Hold this." He said.

"Shepard, be careful! She's crazy!" said Alaara.

"You think?"

Austin managed to climb down Alaara until he was close enough to the rope. He then took his combat knife and readied to cut it. The Slayer only noticed a little too late. Austin cut the knife and she fell. At first it looked like she'd fall to her death, but fortunately for her they passed over a building with a nearby swimming pool on the roof and she fell into that instead.

At least Alpha was now out of harm's way from her now.

"Au revoir, Slayer!" Dash yelled.

As the Slayer rose out of the water, she watched gunboat disappear into the distance.

"Well played, Shepard." She said. "Game on."

* * *

Daniels gently opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. She did however he found Austin's expressionless Helldiver helmet starting right back at him.

"Wake up, Mr Daniels. We have much to discuss." He said.

"You won't get away with this, Helldivers." Daniels groaned.

"I think you'll find we already have." Said Austin calmly. "Which cargo shipment is the next target for these raids, and who's behind them?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Is this information really worth all the trouble?"

"Screw you!"

"I've tried to be reasonable." Austin sighed.

Kraan then suddenly walked forward, grabbed him and the chair he was tied to. He then opened the gunboat's door and held out Daniels just enough that it did feel like he'd fall out any second.

"I'm losing my patience!" said Kraan.

"Alright! Alright!" Daniels screamed.

Kraan reluctantly pulled the human back in and set him back down in front of Austin.

"I won't be able to control my friend here much longer. You better give us something we could use." Said Austin

"Alright. Alright. The one tomorrow heading out from Sur'Kesh." Daniels panted.

"And who's behind these raids?" Austin asked again.

"I don't know. I never found out and I didn't' ask. I swear."

"Do not lie to us." Kraan growled.

"I'm not. I swear, I don't know who's behind this."

"Very well then. We believe you." Said Austin. "Now you get to take a nap."

Before Daniels could say anything, Kraan then suddenly knocked him out.

"Pilots, plot a course for Sur'Kesh. We've got a raid to intercept." Said Austin.

* * *

For now, Alpha simply waited. They were hoping to catch the ones responsible the act and attempt to make sure the cargo transport got through. At the same time though, they might not even show up.

With the long wait, that meant there was plenty of time for conversation.

"So Dash, I think we're all dying to know where the hell you got the Hellraiser. In all my years as a Helldiver, not once have I heard of or seen a vehicle like that." Said Austin.

"I'm glad you asked actually. It's a rather interesting story." Dash smiled smugly under his helmet.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

_6 Months Earlier_

Dash couldn't' help but admire the sheer size of these archives as he walked through them. He was essentially in a warehouse were the Arkane's unused prototypes or inventions were stored.

He was being accompanied by the one in charge. An Arkane named Dell Arturus. Though Dell was more a Quartermaster for the Arkanes, he was also in charge of the archives. Some even gave him the nickname "Archivist"

"Environmental procedures, defence projects, consumer products: all prototypes. None in production, on any level whatsoever." Said the Arkane.

"None at all? Wow. People aren't kidding when they say the wealthiest place is a graveyard." Said Dash.

"So what exactly is your interest in some of the stuff I have down here?" Dell asked.

"I've always heard stories of certain Helldivers getting access to rare one of a kind prototypes. I was told my squad could be one of them." Dash replied.

"Anything in particular you had in mind?" Dell asked.

"Can't really say without seeing for certain what you have."

"Trust me, Mr Torres. It'd take a year to go through everything I have in these archives. They're that big."

"I can see."

After a short while, Dash then notice one of the massive ships that stood out. A gunship of some kind. Far bigger than the even the traditional gunships.

"Hmm. This looks interesting." The Scout said as he took a close look.

"Advanced Helldiver gunboat. Far more powerful than the usual dropships you Helldivers are used to." Dell explained.

As Dash looked underneath, he noticed what appeared to be a massive empty slot on the bottom.

"Why does it look like it's missing something on the bottom? What's with all the space?" he asked.

"It's designed for carrying vehicles externally. It ultimately wasn't put into production because there weren't enough vehicles properly designed for this." Dell replied.

"Well I know someone who would definitely love this. Even if it doesn't' carry a vehicle, the size and firepower of this looks good. And it also looks rather cool." Dash smiled.

"I'm guessing you'll take it?"

"Yeah." Dash nodded. Just as she was about to say that would be it however, he then noticed something else. It mostly had a cover over it, but he could definitely see some wheels from what was exposed. "Wait, what's this?"

He walked up to it and pulled the cover off completely. What he saw literally made his jaw drop.

"Wow!"

Dell walked up next to Dash. Despite that the Helldiver was wearing a helmet, he could see the awe in his eyes.

"The Rumbler? Oh, you wouldn't be interested in that."

* * *

Dell was beginning to regret saying that now. Currently he was strapped tightly into the passenger seat while Dash took the Rumbler for a spin around the nearby test track. If he'd known what kind of driver Dash was however…

It wasn't that Dash was bad, he was actually a pretty good driver and he was controlling the vehicle very well. It was the fact that he insisted on going so fast and barely used the brakes that was scaring Dell a bit.

"What the hell is powering this thing? It's a monster!" Dash laughed in amazement.

"A 2000 horsepower engine." Dell replied, trying not to sound as nervous as he was.

"2000?! Blimey that's a lot."

"She was built as an Infantry Fighting Vehicle for long term exploration." Dell explained.

"I notice also there's an afterburner on the back of this thing. How does that work?" Dash asked, still trying to find a button that said "afterburner" on it.

"You should see there's a red button on the top right of the steering wheel. That will boost you into a ramp less jump." Dell replied.

Dash quickly saw which button the Arkane meant and he immediately pressed it.

"Whoa! NOT NOW!" Dell yelled as the Rumbler suddenly shot forward and quickly reached its top speed of 210mph

But the Rumbler just kept on going. Eventually Dell could see the approaching turn at the end of the main straight. If Dash didn't' slow down, they were definitely gonna crash and… probably die.

"SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN!" he yelled.

Mercifully, Dash started braking and also took his finger off the afterburner button.

"Afterburner disengaged." Said the Rumbler's on-board VI.

"Please don't do that again." Dell panted with relief.

"Just trying to get a feel of her. That's all." Dash chuckled happily. He was struggling to think of any other moment in his life where he'd had more fun than this. Plus, Dell's reactions were a little funny for him. To get another one, he then took his hands off the wheel. "Look, no hands!"

"HEY!"

Dash just laughed and put his hands back on.

Finally they reached end of the test track. Dash did a power slide as they crossed the line and then the Rumbler finally stopped.

"Must say, you handled her surprisingly well." Dell admitted.

"It's as if she was built with me in mind." Said Dash proudly. "She's amazing. How come they never put her into production?"

"Well originally they were going to. Right as production started however, the Council ultimately decided that it was too expensive and wasn't worth all the money. It cost nearly a billion credits to make each one. So as a result, only two exist. The prototype which you saw back there and this one you just drove which is the very first official Rumbler. She was fully completed just before production was shut down. Rather than dismantle it however, they instead had me look after it."

"So this one is superior to the prototype?" Dash asked.

"Yes. And of course I've kept her updated and in top condition. I have secretly hoped someone would eventually take her off my hands. She's too powerful and mighty to be kept in storage." Said Dell.

"Well… after that there's no way I'm leaving this behind." Said Dash.

"Good choice. The gunboat back there was also designed with this in mind as well. So that's a win win for you." Said Dell.

"One thing though. Is it possible you can make a few modifications?" Dash asked.

"Like what?" said Dell a littler cautiously.

"Well… I'll write a list if it helps."

_END OF FLASHBACK  
_

* * *

"So you're saying the Hellraiser is actually modified compared to how it's meant to be?" Sandra asked.

"Yep."

"How exactly?" Alaara asked.

"Well…" Dash began.

But before the Scout could continue, he was suddenly interrupted by a massive explosion. The transport had suddenly fallen under attack. Already Alpha could spot what looked like a small army of mercs surrounding the transport as it fell having barely just taken off.

"Round 'em all up!" one of them ordered as some of the Salarians on the transport got out.

They looked like mercs, but they were surprisingly well armoured and well equipped. They were dressed in mostly black armour with a very dark camo colour and light blue optics. They appeared to have three separate types of units. The large Heavies with M-76 Revenants and shields, the Snipers and finally the specialist that had backpacks and traditional assault rifles or SMGs.

Before the mercs could round up and possibly execute the Salarians, Alpha immediately charged and opened fire. This immediately caught the mercs attention and they opened fire.

"Who the hell are all these guys?!" said Kraan, diving for cover to avoid the incoming fire.

"Don't know, but they're well-armed." Said Sandra as he blind fired a few shots.

"We need to get to the civilians." Said Austin. "Kraan, Alaara and Ventra provide cover fire. Rest of you with me."

"Yes sir."

Alpha split up into two teams and flanked the mercs from both sides. They only took out a few while the others went to cover, but that wasn't Alpha's priority. Right now, their priority was the Salarians. Innocent lives always came before the mission.

They soon managed to reach the Salarians who were quick to recognize their saviours.

"Keep your heads down." Said Leena.

"Overseer, this is Alpha! We're pinned down by an unknown enemy and taking heavy fire. We have civilians with us, I say again, civilians in danger and in need of extraction!" Said Austin.

 _"Just hold on. We're en route to your location."_ Said Telrass.

Alpha held the line as best they could until the gunship finally appeared, still carrying the Hellraiser externally underneath it. The mercs quickly took notice.

"All fire teams, take down that gunboat!" one of them yelled.

The gunboat opened fire with it's now fixed gun which caused some of the mercs to seek cover. Finally the gunboat touched down between Alpha and the mercs. The door on Alpha's side opened.

"Let's go!" said Austin.

"Get them on board." Said Telrass as she helped Alpha get the Salarians on board.

"Alexa, get them somewhere safe. We'll take care of these guys." Said Austin.

"I'm running of ammo, Shepard, and guns…" said Kraan. He then noticed something even worse. "Oh shit! And they've got a tank!"

A large tank soon joined the fray and fired a shot. It just barely missed the gunboat.

"Alexa, drop the Rumbler off." Said Dash.

Wanting to get out of there quickly, Alexa did as she was told. The gunboat's locks on the Hellraiser disabled and took off, leaving the vehicle on the ground. Dash quickly hurried up to the Hellraiser. It's cockpit opened to accept it's driver and Dash jumped in.

"Dash, speed isn't going to destroy that thing. I hope you know what you're doing." Said Alaara.

"I know exactly what I'm doing." Said Dash.

From inside the Hellraiser, Dash pressed a very special button. The engine turned off and a slight hum started to emanate from it. Then it suddenly began to change.

 _"Activating battle mode!"_ said the Hellraiser's on-board VI.

The arches over the six wheels extended outwards from the main body, the wheels rotating slightly as they did so. Now clear of the body, they'd become now become gyroscopic, allowing them to rotate a full 360 and point in any direction. Compartments on the Hellraiser also opened and several new weapons slid out. Two missile like launchers on the roof just above the cockpit, two rocket launchers on the front on the inside of the front wheels, two mass accelerator cannons on each side and finally some extra thrusters on each side underneath the spoiler.

The main cannon and minigun also came online and rotated until it faced the mercs and the tank.

_"60mm cannon: Operational."_

The main cannon fired a round which hit the tank dead on, causing to explode.

"Take that thing down!" one of the mercs yelled.

The mercs opened fire, but every single shot they fired simply bounced of the Hellraiser's tank armour.

The Hellraiser then rotated on the spot until it faced the mercs. The minigun looked ready to fire. Austin was quick to notice this.

"Leave some of them alive if you..." He quickly tried to say.

Dash however beat him to it. Instead of firing the minigun, he activated a third weapon that was attached to the main cannon's right side.

_"Riot Suppressor: Engaged"_

The weapon fired at the mercs, each shot instantly knocking them out as it fired rubber round rather than live.

"What'd you say, Shepard?" Dash asked.

"Never mind."

Several more tanks suddenly joined the fray along with a few other mercs.

"You take the mercs. I'll handle the tanks." Said Dash.

Austin nodded and he and the rest of Alpha resumed the battle.

The tanks fired their own mounted miniguns at the Hellraiser, but as before with the mercs, the rounds simply bounced off the vehicle's armour without any damage. The Hellraiser returned fire with its own minigun. A few well-placed shots even managed to hit a critical weak point on one of the enemy tanks and it exploded.

Seeing that this tactic wasn't' working, the tanks fired their main cannon rounds at the Hellraiser simultaneously. At first it looked like the rounds were going to hit the Hellraiser and cause some serious damage. However, the Hellraiser simply strafed to the side and the rounds shot straight past. It then returned fire with its main cannon, taking out another tank with a single shot.

Three more tanks appeared. It looked like the Hellraiser would quickly get overrun. But when it came to this thing, Dash had another trick up his sleeve. He just needed to wait until it was fully charged up. Although Dell had assured him all the weapon systems worked and had done simulations on them, he hadn't been able to do a field test. As a result, some of weapon diagnostics were still running. The one Dash needed though had already completed and was just charging up now. He only needed to hold on just a little bit longer.

Another strafe to left to avoid another round from an enemy tank and he finally got the notification he'd been waiting for.

 _"Missile barrage weapon energy fully charged! Missile barrage ready!"_ said the VI.

Dash immediately tapped the X button several times, each press caused the Hellraiser to lock on to each enemy tank. Once all were finally locked, the Scout simply had to watch the fireworks.

Several homing missiles all fired at the same time from the Hellraiser rocket launchers. Each one shot into the air and then made short work of each tank they were locked onto. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing scrap metal left.

Having just finished with all the mercs, the rest of Alpha had just seen all that as well.

"You didn't tell us the Hellraiser could do that." Said Austin in amazement as the Hellraiser reverted back to its original Super Pursuit Mode.

"I was about to." Said Dash.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

_3 Months Earlier_

A few days after Dash's test run of the Rumbler had passed. Now he was back have a look at the new modifications that he'd been informed that Dell had finally finished. He found the Arkane at his desk checking on what looked like some kind of power core. Probably a new invention or prototype he was working on.

"You told me the modifications were finished?" the Scout inquired.

"Indeed." Said Dell as he picked up a device that had been lying on his desk and clicked a button on it. "Mr Torres, allow me to introduce, your new transportation."

Two doors on the floor nearby slid open and a platform rose up from inside them. Only… there was nothing there.

"Maybe you've been down here too long." Dash sighed.

"The ultimate in Arkane engineering." Said Dell. To Dash's surprise he then banged his hand on something invisible twice, causing a loud clang to emit.

"You must be joking!" Dash said in shock, suddenly realizing what Dell was now telling him.

"If there's one thing I never do, Mr Torres, I never joke about my work." Said Dell. "I will admit, it was incredibly tricky getting it to work properly. But I managed to give it… a cloak."

He then pressed another button the device and out of nowhere appeared the new Rumbler.

"Oh very good." Said Dash, managing to find his voice again.

"Almost the same as your own cloak. To the casual eye, it's as good as invisible. I should point out though, Stealth mode works when riving at a certain speed." Dell explained.

"So I have to drive slowly?" Dash asked, sounding rather disappointed.

"You don't really have a choice. When stealth mode is activated, the main engine switches off and the Rumbler is then powered by an electric motor. Completely silent." Said Dell.

"Fine. If that's how it has to work." Dash sighed.

"Need I remind you, Mr Torres, that you Helldivers have a license to kill, not to break the traffic laws." Said Dell.

"Spoilsport." Dash mumbled. "Still, nice to see you included what I requested though."

He was right. Dell had indeed followed his instructions to the letter. Then again, it probably hadn't been that difficult anyway. Most of the changes Dash had asked for had simply been appearance ones. He hadn't asked for it be faster or have any really complex changes, he'd only asked that the Rumbler's appearance receive a few small changes. The most noticeable especially out of the ones Dash had asked for were the tools, a spare wheel, the chain, and a spoiler at the back that was also hydraulic so it could double as an airbrake.

"Indeed. Nice actually that you didn't go mad with them." Said Dell.

"She already looked badass. I didn't want to spoil that." Said Dash.

"You must really like this thing." Said Dell.

"Oh I do, and I'm sure the others are going to as well." Said Dash.

"Now, I think you'll also be interested in seeing two more modifications I felt you'd benefit from." Said Dell. "You'll notice of course it only has that cannon and minigun as its primary weapon. Well…"

He then pressed another button and the Rumbler suddenly began to change.

_"Activating Battle Mode!"_

The arches over the six wheels extended outwards from the main body, the wheels rotating slightly as they did so. Now clear of the body, they'd become now become gyroscopic, allowing them to rotate a full 360 and point in any direction. Compartments on the Hellraiser also opened and several new weapons slid out. Two missile like launchers on the roof just above the cockpit, two rocket launchers on the front on the inside of the front wheels, two mass accelerator cannons on each side and finally some extra thrusters on each side underneath the spoiler.

"Not anymore." Dell finished.

"WOW!" said Dash in amazement.

"As you can see on the top there, missile barrage launchers. On the front, rocket launchers, on the sides mass accelerator guns in case you run into shielded enemies, and some extra thrusters on the back so that you can make a quick dodge to the side if you need to avoid an incoming projectile. You'll notice also the wheels have changed. They are now gyroscopic, allowing them to turn full 360. This allows the Rumbler to move in any direction, do a full 360 turn on the spot and even strafe from side to side."

"Incredible! One question if I may." Said Dash. "This winch, how strong is it?"

"The Rumbler itself weighs 24 tonnes. That winch can pull things up to the same weight. Though no guarantee of success though if you intend to haul the Rumbler up the side of a building." Dell replied.

"You read my mind." Dash smiled.

"It's in the job description."

"And the last feature?"

"Ah, now this I'm particularly proud of." Said Dash as he showed Dash the device he'd been holding earlier and it unfolded into what looked unmistakably like a Gamepad from early 21st century.

"An old Earth gamepad?" Dash asked, confused.

"The remote control for the Rumbler." Dell corrected. "Simply unfold and press start twice."

The Arkane did so and the Rumbler suddenly roared into life. Dash jumped slightly from the sudden loud engine sound and backed away from the vehicle as it started on its own.

"Now, use the triggers and the left thumbstick very gently to drive the Rumbler."

Dell provided a demonstration but he wasn't brilliant at it. He managed a few small movements before then trying reverse which then caused the Rumbler to bang against a nearby crate.

"Well in my defence, it's surprisingly difficult to drive this way, but with practice…" said Dell.

"Well let's see how she responds to my touch." Said Dash as he took the gamepad from Dell.

Under his control now, the Rumbler suddenly accelerated forward. Dash then drove it out of the warehouse and into the open where he immediately then had it do a power slide which then went into a triple donut.

Dell looked at Dash with both shock and amazement. This Helldiver had had no practice with driving the Rumbler this way whatsoever and yet he was now controlling it like he'd known all along. Finally Dash drove the Hellraiser back into the warehouse… and had it drive right at them.

Dell was just about to run away, but Dash simply stayed calmly where he was. Finally he took his finger off the right trigger and applied the brakes using the left trigger. Both the Rumbler's brakes and airbrakes deployed and the vehicle slowed down and just 2 seconds… barely in inch from hitting him and Dell.

"Goodness me." Said Dell, almost in shock.

"I think we understand each other." Dash smiled smugly.

"Grow up, Torres." Dell sighed.

_END OF FLASHBACK  
_

* * *

"Dash, usually we've criticized you a lot and thought you're mad. But now…" said Kraan in amazement.

"I had a feeling you'd have that sort of reaction." Said Dash smugly.

"We are definitely keeping this." Said Austin approvingly.

"Anyway, we should examine the raiders?" Dash asked.

"Yes." Austin agreed, his mind snapping back to the mission at hand. "I'm a little worried. Because they're clearly not Cerberus."

Alpha picked up some of the bodies and investigated. They had nothing unidentifiable on them.

"No ID's, no logos, no markings, nothing." Said Alaara. "Whoever these guys are though, they're well organized."

"These are definitely not normal mercenaries. They're soldiers, and they've been trained." Said Sandra.

Austin sighed. It seemed this was worse than they'd realized. True they had won, and these "raiders" would now think twice before attacking anymore transports. But it still left everyone the question. Who were they?

"Overseer, this Alpha, all hostiles have been dealt with." Said Austin.

 _"Copy that, did you find out who they are?"_ Telrass asked.

"Yes and no. They're clearly not Cerberus, but we can't' identify them at all." Austin replied. "Best you inform the Arkane Council at once. We've got a new player in town."

* * *

**Quite a lot of Batman references I'll admit, especially for Arkham Knight, but it was fun to include them.**

**I should say actually, I've had the idea for the Hellrasier for an awfully long time. I always had the idea for Alpha to have a vehcile long before Arkham Knight was ever announced. Originally it would've jsut been an APC tha they would've only used briefly and it would've then been destroyed.**

**After Arkham Knight was announced however, I decided to sit down one day and make it myself... out of Lego. The design went through quite a few changes over the next year or so, but it's now reached the final version which I am happy with and has been included in the chapter. You can find pictures on my Deviantart.**

**You can expect the Hellraiser to be appearing a lot from now on. Rest assured though, I'm not going to overuse it.**

**Now, I'm going to admit now that I don't know how long chapter 14 will take. I'm collabarating with a friend on this next one, and although we do have a plan and outline for what's going to happen, there is always the risk of something happening that might cause a delay. I have faith that there won't, but the future is always unpredictable. So just to warn you, there is a chance this next chapter might take a little bit longer.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I know I did!**

**Until next time! Please do leave plenty of reviews. :)**


	14. Chapter 14, Murder in The Dark

**Didn't' get that many reviews for the last one.**

**When i asked a few people however they said they hadn't received a notification email. Bit odd. Well anyway, hopefully this time it's reached you and I'm telling you now that I did a chapter 13.**

**Now, regarding this chapter. I'd like to say a huge thank you to SpectreFanchin10 for his work on this with me. He thought up the basic plot-line and wrote several segments, so he definitely deserves some credit for this too.**

**It's here we finally introduce a familiar face we first saw in ME3. The plot also thickens...**

**HAPPY READING!**

* * *

**YEAR 4, The Rise of Hellspawn**

**2176: 4 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**11 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

_"With a possible new enemy out there, what happened next was something we did not expect… an invitation to dinner with a Senator of all things. As it turned out though, it ended up being not quite so relaxing. Still, it was a night none of us would forget. For it seemed we weren't the only fish out of water that night…_

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Murder in The Dark**

The Arkanes had been rather concerned by the news that a new unknown party was behind the raids. Though they seemed to have stopped now, that didn't mean the problem was behind them.

For now though, Alpha had a different assignment.

Because of their fame, they'd recently received an invitation from a Senator Hector Stevens. Alpha weren't exactly enthusiastic about it, but it'd be rather rude to decline so they'd ultimately accepted.

So that was why they were dressed in evening wear. They were trying to relax and enjoy the trip, but unfortunately that was hard when they were inside the Hellraiser, and Dash was at the wheel.

Normally they would've just flown there, but because Steven's Mansion was up in the hills (which were a no fly zone because of unpredictable and often dangerous weather) they'd had to drive instead.

At the moment Dash was driving sensibly and not going too fast, but there was always that little bit of paranoia Alpha had after their last drive in this tank.

"So how much further?" Dash asked.

"Well assuming I'm reading this map correctly, the mansion should be beyond those trees on the other side of those woods." Said Sandra, reading the holo map on one of the displays in front of her in the passenger seat. So we'll have to circle ar…."

But she was interrupted as Dash suddenly pulled a sharp turn, went completely off the road, and into the forest at high speed, laughing as if he'd just accepted a challenge.

"Hahaha!"

"OH NO!" Sandra screamed.

The rest of Alpha swiftly lowered their harnesses and secured them. They could already tell that this ride was not going to be comfortable.

"Steering's a little loose!" Dash joked, obviously finding his passenger's discomfort and fright to be rather funny.

A rather large dip in the terrain caused the Hellraiser to temporarily leave the ground, leaving all 6 wheels spinning and the engine revving to full RPM before finally landing back on ground again with a rather loud bash due its weight.

"Alignment's off too!" Dash grinned.

"DASH!" Sandra yelled as she noticed the Scout was driving right at the low hanging and very thick branch of a tree. Having rather forgotten that she was in an almost indestructible tank, she flung both her hands over her face and braced for what she thought was going to be her inevitable death.

Instead however, the Hellraiser simply smashed through the thick branch without even a single dent.

As the Hellraiser drove through a nearby river, splashing stagnant water everywhere, Dahs then started to do something even madder. He started to sing.

" _Oh, you pretty Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you! And our pretty Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Bang Bang loves us too. High, up, anywhere we go, on Chitty Chitty we depend. Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang our fine four-fendered friend. Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang our fine four-fendered…Chitty Bang Bang. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Chitty Bang Bang YEAH!"_

Everyone simply looked at him. Had Dash really lost it this time, or was his adrenaline just so high that he was acting this way? In their opinion more likely the former.

"CHITTY!" Dash yelled again. He then accelerated even hard and the crashed right even more of the woods into a clearing.

A welcome sight was finally in sight. Ahead lay the senator's mansion. A rather grand building that looked like the sort of a building a very rich person would live in. Secluded in a forest or field, large enough to have more than one bedroom and a rather expensive looking car parked outside in order to show off to guests.

"Ah there's the mansion!" said Dash.

"Oh, thank god!" said Sandra with relief. It was almost over.

"If I can just find a parking spot…" said Dash.

"Perhaps we should slow down just a teensy weensy bit?!" Sandra suggested in a vaguest hope that it might somehow make Dash slow down. It didn't work.

"Nonsense, poopy pants!" said Dash confidently as he continued at the speed. The mansion was getting closer and closer.

In the passenger seat, Sandra was literally praying for her life now.

"We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. We're gonna be fine. LOOK OUT!"

Dash then spun. Not once, not twice, but several times. Everything outside the window became a blur as Dash literally did several spins, laughing through a wide grin all the while.

Mercifully it finally stopped. Dash hit the brakes and the Hellraiser stopped, parked perfectly right next to Senator Stevens' car, barely an inch for touching it.

"Like a glove!" the Scout laughed.

Sandra of course was the first to remove her restraint and run out of the Hellraiser. She quickly found the nearest hedge so that if she did end up throwing up again, she wouldn't' make an obvious mess. Several deep breaths… and it never came. The awful feeling her stomach slowly started to subside and her panting slowed to a clam and controlled rate of breathing.

"One of these days, his driving is gonna be the death of me." She said to Alaara who had checked her "secret" bondmate was okay.

"Are you alright, Xun?" Austin asked as he helped Xun, who was still rather dizzy and almost in shock, out of the Hellraiser.

"I'll live." Xun replied groggily. She too sounded a little sick, but she didn't look it.

"I'm so sorry about that, but once he's behind the wheel of this monster there's no stopping him." Austin apologised, casting Dash a rather cross look.

"Well imagine the mayhem he'll give the enemy in this." Said Xun, trying to brighten the mood a little.

It was everyone got out that everyone not only noticed how close Dash had been to hitting the Senator's car, but also the mess he'd made of the grass field doing his spins.

"Look what you've down to the lawn!"

"That'll clear up." Said Dash uncaringly.

"Give me strength." Austin sighed as he buried his face in his hands. "We're not even inside the mansion and already one of us has made a mess."

Hoping and praying that the senator and his staff wouldn't' notice the lawn since it was night, everyone walked up to the door. Austin knocked and it soon opened. A finely dressed butler stood in the doorway to greet them.

"Who shall I tell Mr Stevens is calling?" he asked, clearly with a calm and somewhat modest and posh British accent. Very different from Austin's.

"Helldiver Squad Alpha. He invited us." Austin replied.

The butler opened the door fully and allowed everyone to come in before closing the door behind them.

"Wait here, and please do not touch anything." He said.

As the butler left, Austin could already see Dash moving over to a nearby vase out the corner of his eye.

"Dash!" he said sternly.

"Okay, fine." Dash sighed.

A few seconds later, the Butler returned with two men accompanying him.

Senator Stevens had black hair with a touch of grey hair on his sideburns and blue eyes. He appeared to be in his late fifties with a mostly normal physique.

"Ah! Alpha Squad, what a pleasure to finally meet you at last." He said happily.

It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Senator." Said Austin as he and Stevens shook hands.

"Must say, I am surprised that you accepted my invitation. A squad like yours I would've thought would consider something like this to not be worth your time." Said Stevens.

"A squad like ours doesn't turn down invites from a senator." Said Austin modestly.

Stevens then indicated the man next to him.

"Allow me to introduce my brother, Robert Stevens."

"How do you do?" Robert greeted.

"Very well, thank you." Austin replied as he and Robert shook hands.

Robert was tall and thin. Like his brother he had black hair and blue eyes.

"Quite good looking isn't he?" Alexa quietly said suggestively to Alaara.

"Not my type." The Asari shrugged uncaringly. Unseen by Alexa, she made a little wink at Sandra who simply smiled understandingly.

"Your loss."

* * *

While the Senator finished attending to some business, Alpha were all sat the table. The long wait was beginning to bore some of them.

Leena was even trying to alleviate the boredom of waiting by playing the knife game on her own hand using her combat knife, continuously getting faster as she kept stabbing between her fingers. Austin finally noticed just as she started reaching a blurring speed.

"Leena! Not at the table." He said sternly.

The Quarian sighed and put the knife away. Fortunately, at that moment, the food finally arrived, as did Stevens and his brother.

"I apologise if I kept you all waiting." Said the Senator.

"Oh not at all, Senator." Said Austin modestly.

"I trust your dextrous friends find the food to their liking? I made sure to get the best specially for them."

Ventra did a little test of some of the dextrose DNA food. As soon he swallowed, he suddenly started chocking.

"Oh dear god!" said the butler.

At that moment however, Ventra's expression changed to a grin and he then started laughing. He'd only been pretending to be poisoned. Everyone relaxed, but they weren't impressed with the Turian for doing that.

"Hahahaha! Oh, the look on your faces." He said.

"Please don't do that again, Ventra. You nearly gave me a heart attack." Said Austin as he breathed sigh of relief.

"Quiet the lively bunch aren't they." Said Stevens, surprisingly amused by Ventra's little joke.

"You've no idea." Said Telrass.

"Anyway, please do tuck in." said Robert.

With that, everyone else started eating.

"So Alpha, my brother and I are most curious to know how exactly you dealt with all those crime lords. There've been many stories, but nothing beats the truth." Said Stevens.

"Well, it certainly wasn't easy…" said Austin.

Dash turned his head and looked in some random direction.

"The author will fast forward this bit for you, readers." he winked.

* * *

"Well, I'm glad to see you all enjoyed your meals." Said Stevens as everyone finished.

"Yes. Kraan's certainly enjoyed his the most. I've never seen anyone eat 5 whole turkeys and not be sick." Said Austin. "I hope you've got plenty more."

"Oh I assure you we have." Said Stevens.

"Can I have another?" Kraan asked. He noticed however that everyone was giving him an unimpressed look. "Relax, guys. It was a joke. For once, I'm actually full."

"I honestly do hope you're not overdosing on all that protein paste, Leena." Said Telrass.

"Just be thankful I didn't try to drink some more Ryncol." Said the Quarian.

"That's true." Telrass admitted.

"Anyway, if everyone is finished, I would like you all to accompany me to the study. There's something I wish to discuss with you all." Said Stevens.

The senator, Robert and the rest of Alpha got up from the table and all went out of the dining room, went straight down the hall, turned to the left and all went to the study. There were several couches and a chair at the corner as they entered. Outside was the unmistakable sound of rain and drops could be seen

"Well there's no one here," Dash mumbled.

"Everyone, would you please take a seat?" the Senator asked politely.

As everyone sat down, except Kraan who was forced to stand after he ended up crushing a chair when he sat on it (most likely the result of all that food)

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time I was honest with you. I didn't invite you here just for dinner." Said Stevens. "Well...there are some things about those raiders you've recently come across that I know about and what who they are working for."

Everyone looked at him curiously.

"Tell us what you know." Said Austin.

"To put it very clear, I've-"

Thunder suddenly struck. The senator fell forward on the table and blood started dripping from the top of his head. Everyone jumped back in surprise. Dash quickly went up to him and attempted to check his pulse.

"Oh my god! He's probably dead!" he said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Robert said sarcastically.

"Look everyone just calm down," Shepard assured. "Let's just look at the body and see what killed him."

"Let me look," Robert said. "I know a bit about detective work and I am his brother."

Robert lifted up the body to see there was a gunshot wound in the head. He looked at the direction of the gunshot and followed it to the dresser. Behind one of the mini statues he saw what was undeniably a pistol behind it.

"Well, looks like we found what killed my brother." He said.

"I'll try to contact the authorities," Leena said as she used her omni tool to make contact. No use. "Damn it, I can't make contact from the outside."

"Just as well. Last thing we want is PC Plod sticking his nose in." said Robert.

"How about we get the hell out of here?" Alaara suggested.

Everyone all agreed with her and try to open the front door but it failed to open it.

"Oh shit tits! We're trapped with a killer! We have NO armour. NO suit. We're defenceless," Dash yelled uncontrollably.

Sandra slapped him across his face and Dash calmed down.

"Dash, shut up and stop shouting. We're all a little freaked out about what just happened." She said.

"What happened," Ventra said. "Why can't we get out?"

"The mansion is in lockdown. The gunshot must have turned on the alarms and locked us in here. We can't get out," Robert said.

"I bet it can't stop a charging Krogan," Kraan yelled as he readied to break the door open. Robert though stopped him.

"It won't work. The walls outside the mansion can withstand a Krogan even at your size, Kraan."

"I'll just blast us out with the Hellraiser." Said Dash as he took the remote control out.

"Dash, put that away! You're not blowing a hole in this mansion!" Austin ordered.

"Spoilsport." Dash mumbled. This time though, Austin heard that.

"Watch it!" he warned. "So how are we going to get out?"

"Someone from the outside has to unlock the doors." Robert replied.

"How long will it take for them to unlock this place?" Telrass asked.

"An hour." Robert replied, trying to break the bad news to them casually.

"Well that's just great!" Ventra sighed.

"Ok, we need suspects. Who else is in the house?" Austin asked.

"We all saw, the butler, the gardener, the maid...," Ventra listed down.

"What about the cook?" Kraan asked.

"The cook?" everyone asked.

Everyone ran down the hall to the kitchen to see the cook was there. The kitchen was completely empty.

"Well," Dash said. "She's not here."

A loose door opened by itself next to Dash. The Scout screamed and saw the cook dead with a cleaver stuck to the back of her head. The body fell out but Leena managed to catch it.

"Don't be such a wuss, Dash." Said Kraan. "We kill how many people and one dead body terrifies you?"

"It's dark and we've got a killer on the loose." Said Dash defensively.

"A shame. She always made such nice meals." Said Robert. There was little to no emotion in his voice.

When Robert turned, he suddenly found Austin pointing a gun directly at his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Robert asked nervously.

"How long have been living in this house?" Austin asked.

"Several years at least." Robert replied, still staring at the barrel of the gun with worry.

"Would you say you were close to the staff?" Austin asked.

"Of course." Robert replied in an obvious tone.

"Who are you, really?" Austin asked seriously.

"My name is Robert Stevens." Robert replied sternly.

Unconvinced, Austin shot a hole in the ceiling to prove that he was completely serious about shooting Robert.

"I'll ask again. Who are you?" he asked as he pointed the gun at Robert again.

"My name is Robert…" said Robert. But he was interrupted by Austin preparing to fire another shot. "Okay, I'm an imposter! How did you know?"

"We've had two murders and I've not seen any emotion from you. It's straight to solving the murder. So I'm guessing that you're either very cold… or an imposter." Austin explained. "So, who are you really?"

Knowing that he was defeated, "Robert activated his omni tool. To the surprising shock of everyone he then faded away as though he'd simply been an image, or a hologram. A new figure then slowly appeared, uncloaking in the same way that a Helldiver did. Sure enough, in front of Alpha now stood a Helldiver. Full armour and everything.

His armour design wasn't' heavily modified but he did have several cloth pieces hanging off his armour. Most especially at the back around the legs, one on the front and on his right arm. This appearance gave him a somewhat drifter appearance.

"Bonjour Madame and Mousier. Troy Benning, Helldiver Spy at your service." He said as he gave a bow, now speaking with a French accent "I was assigned by the Arkane council to look into those mysterious raiders you fought on your last mission. Remember Jack Daniels?"

"Yeah we remember him. We heard he was brought for interrogation but we never had anything." Said Sandra.

"I got one piece of information. The Senator was in some contact with an unknown organization in the shadows which I have no name at all. I went in disguise as his brother to know more but the dinner was unexpected. I had hoped maybe you could get something from him, but now of course…" said Troy.

"But wait. If you've been impersonating his brother this whole time, where's the real one?" Austin asked suspiciously.

"He's taken care of. Don't worry about it." Troy simply replied.

"So if you were involved in something like this, why didn't the council tell us?" Alexa asked.

"My work as a spy as you probably know is classified and any information about it is unofficial and off the record. Only the very highest ranking are privy to that sort of information. We spies prefer to work in the shadows." Said Troy, almost sounding a bit boastful as he spoke.

Sandra walked up to Troy.

"I think you better explain yourself, Troy." She said.

"I just did." The spy said.

"Steven I can understand. But why would someone kill the cook?" she asked.

"I don't know," Troy replied. "But whoever did this has a real god complex."

"Well that's one suspect down," Shepard said. "We just need to find the butler, maid and gardener."

"Well then," Troy said. "I suggest we take the cook and Senator's bodies into the study."

"Why?" Kraan said suspiciously.

"We don't want to upset the butler. He likes to keep the kitchen tidy. And where else are we gonna put them?"

Everyone took the bodies to the study and placed them on the sofa.

"Troy. Is there anyone else here in the house?" Austin asked.

"N-no," Troy said hesitantly.

"Then there is someone else is in this house?"

"Sorry monsieur. I mentioned to say no meaning yes."

"No meaning yes? Look I just want a clear answer. Is it yes or no?"

"No."

"Yes there is or no their isn't?"

"Yes?"

Clearer growing annoyed by this, Alaara's biotics flared up and she hit the wall with a warp.

"Stop arguing about this and figure out what's going on here!" she said.

"Yeah, what she said." Dash agreed.

"How do we know that one of them isn't the killer?" Dash asked. "As far as we know if it's not them, it could be us without even knowing it."

"What do you mean one of us did it?! How could you even suggest that?!" Leena said furiously.

"Well I didn't do it." Dash reminded everyone.

"Well someone did. But who?" Troy asked rhetorically. "We must look for a motive. "Use ze little grey cells."

"Oh yes. Little grey cells. Good old Poirot." Said Austin. "Who's Poirot?" Telrass asked. "Long story." Said Xun. "Another time."

"Alright. If there is no one else here, I suggest we split into pairs and search the mansion for clues." Austin suggested.

"Now this is beginning to sound like Scooby Doo." Dash joked.

"SHUT UP, DASH!" everyone said.

"Alright, Kraan, Dash, you two search the cellar. Ventra, Leena, search the second floor. Sandra, Alaara, you search the third. Troy, you Xun and Alexa and I stay on this floor. I want to keep an eye on you." Said Austin.

"Can't you just trust me for a bit, mon ami?" Troy asked charmingly.

"I guess we'll find out."

* * *

Both Dash and Kraan were searching for anything useful. Surprisingly for the Krogan, Dash was actually being rather quiet. Most likely he was taking this situation seriously for once.

"You seem quieter than usual, Dash. Something wrong?" Kraan asked.

"I don't like cellars." Dash replied. "They're all dark and full of…"

He was suddenly interrupted when he accidently walked into several cobwebs which became tangled in his face and hair. He immediately screamed and literally fell on the floor as he tried to shake them off.

"OH SHIT! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! THEY'RE IN MY HAIR! HELP ME!"

After several long moments, he finally pulled them off. Kraan was making no effort to hide his laughter.

"It's not funny, Kraan. I'm afraid of cobwebs and spiders." Dash panted as he picked himself up and dusted himself down.

"You wouldn't have liked the Rachni then." Said Kraan as they went back to searching the cellar.

"Don't. You're gonna give me nightmares." Dash shuddered unpleasantly.

The scout then spotted an old and abandoned wardrobe. Thinking that lightning couldn't' strike twice, he gently opened it. A dead body suddenly fell out and landed right on Dash, causing him to fall on the ground again with the body on top of him, its lifeless face inches from his. It was the maid. She'd been bludgeoned on the back of the head.

"AGH!"

"Honestly, Dash. You are such a big baby." Said Kraan as he pulled the body off Dash.

"I don't like bodies jumping out at me, especially when we've got a killer on the loose." said Dash in shock.

"If he shows up, I'll protect you… after he's done a bit of cutting and stabbing that is." Said Kraan.

"Remind me not to help you next time you're in trouble." Said Dash crossly.

"Shut up, Dash." Said Kraan as he picked up the maid's body and slung it over his shoulder.

* * *

"Oh dear. Now the maid's gone. The staff is dropping like flies." Troy sighed as Kraan set the body down.

"We're doomed! Doomed!" said Dash hopelessly. This was quickly followed however with another slap, this time from Xun.

"Stop slapping me!" said Dash crossly.

"I was calming you down." Said Xun.

"Why would that calm me down?!" Dash yelled. Xun quickly slapped him again. This time though it seemed to work. "Hmmm, that actually did calm me down. Thanks."

* * *

Ventra, Leena and Telrass meanwhile were searching the master bedroom on the second floor.

"Pity. This is a rather nice house." Said Ventra.

"I've grown accustomed to living with lesser." Said Telrass.

The female Turian then suddenly spotted something. There was something red on the ground. At first she thought it was a red bit of clothing or something, but it started to get bigger and expand outwards. It wasn't clothing, it was blood.

Telrass cautiously looked under the bed. Sure enough, there was another body. This time it was that of the gardener who'd been stabbed in the chest by one of his own gardening tools.

* * *

"Merde! Now the gardeners dead! This killer's moving like lighting." Troy cursed.

"Maybe that should be his name. The lighting killer!" said Dash dramatically.

As he backed away while doing his little dramatic name, he accidently banged into the closet. Another body suddenly fell out and onto him, once again terrifying him.

"Why is it always me?!" said Dash as he managed to push the body off of him. This time it was the butler. "Well at least we know the butler didn't do it."

"A shame. He was a nice chap." Austin sighed.

* * *

Sandra and Alaara meanwhile… well to be honest they weren't really searching for clues in the attic. They were in fact both laid down on the ground, both stripped of their clothes and kissing wildly.

"I know we shouldn't, but I've just been so horny recently." Alaara smiled as she caressed Sandra's cheek.

"To be honest me too. It also actually feels kind of fun for some reason because it's wrong." Sandra chuckled.

"Ohhhhhh I want you!" Alaara moaned aggressively as she started sucking on one of Sandra's breasts.

"Come and get it then, you dirty little Asari." Sandra smiled naughtily.

"Oh that just turns me on even more." Said Alaara.

* * *

By the time the two had returned, everyone else was gathered. After their little "session" they'd fully searched the attic. They'd found nothing.

"Find anything?" Austin asked.

"Nothing up there." Alaara replied.

"Thought I heard some noises." Troy inquired.

"Probably just your imagination." Sandra shrugged.

Both hers and Alaara's heartbeat did elevate a bit. If their secret had suddenly been blown…

"You two make an unusual couple." Said Troy.

"Oh they're not a couple, Troy. They're just very close comrades. Friends if you will." Austin corrected.

"I see…" Troy said as he cast a suspicious eye at Sandra and Alaara. He wasn't so convinced…

Both Alaara and Sandra saw that look too. It seemed this spy knew, even though everyone else didn't.

But anyway, their minds quickly snapped back to the task at hand. All this time, Austin, Xun, Tory and Alexa meanwhile had been searching the study for clues.

Xun then managed to gain access to Stevens' computers. With Troy's help, she soon came across a password lock for what appeared to be some kind of hidden safe completely sealed with advanced systems to prevent them from being hacked and the only way to open them was a password and a fingerprint.

"Well we can use his fingerprint, but we still need the password."

"Is there anything on there that might tell us?" Austin asked.

On a hunch, Xun opened the messages. The last one was actually interesting. The Senator had several messages from an unknown person with a blocked ID saying that Stevens had the information required but that it was locked in his safe, which could only be opened using the computer. The mysterious contact said that if those files were discover or if the senator betrayed him, he warned Stevens that he'd be dead before he even knew it. Stevens had told the contact not to worry as he'd been keeping the data 'close to his home'.

"Close to his home." Austin repeated puzzlingly. "What did he mean by that?"

Alexa then clicked her fingers.

"Perhaps it didn't mean the mansion. Perhaps it means something more personal. Where he lived or worked for example."

"Of course!" said Troy, unexpectedly grabbing Alexa's head and kissing her forehead. "You're a genius, fille!"

Alexa was rather taken aback by this. Tory also suddenly realized what he'd done and quickly released her.

"My apologies, Madame." He said embarrassingly. "Alright. Well, Stevens once worked in Washington for a long time when he lived there."

"Xun tried that."

"Access denied!" said the computer.

"Where was he born?" Telrass asked.

"Virginia." Troy replied.

Xun tried that one.

"Access denied!"

"But that must've been right." Said Troy.

A thought then hit Austin.

"Maybe it wants us to be more specific." He suggested.

Troy then clicked his fingers.

"Virginia!"

Xun typed that.

There was a temporary wait.

"Password accepted. Fingerprint required."

Troy gently picked up Stevens and pressed his finger to the screen.

"Identity confirmed. Welcome, Mr Stevens."

One of the pictures suddenly opened revealing a safe door which then opened as well.

What was inside however was not what everyone had expected. All that lay in there was what was undeniably a fake eye.

"Oh no." said Austin as he picked up the eye.

"What? It's just an eye." Said Troy.

"It's a fake eye cover for a cybernetic one. Who do we know of that has a cybernetic eye?" Austin asked.

"You don't mean to tell me…" said Alexa.

"The Helldiver Slayer's behind this." Said Austin.

" **The** Helldiver Slayer?" Troy asked in surprise.

"Don't tell me there's more than one!" said Dash.

"Good point actually. Forget I said that." Said Troy. "But are you sure it's her?"

"Undoubtedly. We've crossed paths with her enough times to recognize her handiwork." Said Austin.

"If she's been impersonating someone then that probably means she's still here." Said Leena. "Who else is there in the house?"

"No one. Everyone's dead." Said Troy.

Austin looked closer at the fake eye. Where had he seen that colour before.

"Troy, how long has everyone been dead?" he asked.

Troy scanned each body with his suit.

"Everyone's been dead for the last hour. So they were all killed shortly after the Senator was." He said. But then he noticed something. "Oh, wait a minute. No. The maid's been dead… that can't be right."

"What is it?" Austin asked.

"It says that the maid's been dead for at least 24 hours." Troy replied.

"I think we now know who the Slayer's been posing as." Said Austin as he compared the fake eye to the eyes of the maid. They were an exact match.

"I knew there was something different about her!" said Troy.

It was at that moment, Dash suddenly noticed something out the window. A figure walking away from the mansion, removing a blonde wig in the process to reveal black short hair underneath. The figure turned. The Helldiver Slayer's true face stared back at him, the light her blue cyborg eye clearly visible, even from a distance.

"That's her." He said.

Everyone hurried to the window.

"How the hell did she get out of the mansion?" Troy asked in astonishment.

"And what's that in her hand?" Alexa asked worriedly.

The Slayer held up something so that Alpha could see it more clearly. Something with a button on it, which she then pressed.

The computer's screen suddenly went red and displayed a countdown which instantly started.

"Oh bloody hellfire!" Austin cursed. "It's a bomb."

"With a timer." Dash added.

The Slayer then got into Stevens' skycar and took off into the air. There'd be little chance of catching her now. But right now that was the least of Alpha's problems.

"Can't we just disarm it?" Alexa asked.

Leena attempted to hack the computer but it didn't' work. The computer actually back and suddenly shocked her with a very painful electrical charge.

"Ow! Shit that hurt." Leena swore. "Right, it's obviously been designed to prevent anyone from disarming it."

"We need to get out of here!" said Sandra urgently.

"How?! The building's still in lockdown and it won't turn off yet for another hour, time we don't' have." Said Troy.

"Well the Slayer somehow found a way…" said Telrass.

"Alright, that's it! I'm getting us out of here." Dash interrupted as he took the Hellraiser's remote out of his jacket.

"Dash, I thought I said…" Austin tried to say, but Dash interrupted again.

"I'm not gonna use the cannon. I've got something else that'll do the trick." He said. "Stand back."

The roar of the Hellraiser's engine could be heard from outside. It then transformed to battle mode and turned to face the building and fired the grappling hook from its winch right at the window. As it attached, the Hellraiser then started to reverse, revving at max RPM and its tyres skidding as it encountered resistance in the pull.

The unmistakable sound of creaking could be heard from the window, but it didn't come off. The lockdown was obviously quite tough.

"Whatever you're doing do it faster." Troy said worriedly, casting another look at the countdown to see the barely had less than a minute.

"I'm trying. These windows are tougher than I thought." Said Dash.

The Hellraiser continued to pull and the window's creaking got worse. Then cracks started to appear, it was slowly but surely coming off.

"Come on! Come on!"

Finally, the Hellraiser succeeded in pulling the window off completely.

Fortunately for Alpha they were only on the second floor, so the jump wouldn't' hurt them.

"Everyone out! GO!" Austin yelled.

Right as everyone jumped, the entire mansion exploded and was engulfed in flames which just barely missed Alpha as they all landed on the gravel outside.

"Everyone okay?" Austin asked as he picked himself up.

"I think so." Xun replied.

"Stop landing on top of me, Torres!" Kraan yelled as he pushed Dash off of him once again.

"This won't be easy to explain to the council." said Alaara.

"I was just thinking that myself." Said Troy.

"What about the Slayer?" Telrass asked.

"She's long gone now. Plus, she's in a skycar and we've only got the Hellraiser. We'll never find her." Said Austin.

"So what now?" Leena asked.

"We go back to the Council and explain everything. That's all we can do for now. We've got no other lead on this mysterious organization and she's got the data." Austin replied.

"We'll have to wait for another chance… if we even get one." Said Troy.

"We?" Sandra asked.

"I've been assigned to find out about these raiders as well. I figure we'll do better if we work together." Said Troy.

"You're not gonna be a member of Alpha. You do know that, right?" Austin asked.

"Of course. Think of it as a temporary team up. Besides, Xun's worked with you temporarily before, hasn't she?" Troy asked.

"Good point." Austin admitted. "Anyone have any objections to Troy working with us?"

No one replied.

"Welcome aboard then, Troy." Austin said as the two shook hands.

* * *

**Bit short I'll admit, but I'm still happy with how this turned out. I worried it'd take far longer to write.**

**I hope to have Chapter 15 up in around the same time as well. It's in that one that another familiar face will turn up, and we also run into an old adversary. Some of you kind of already know, but for those who still haven't worked it out yet, hope it'll be a surprise.**

**See ya! Don't forget reviews. As I've said before, they're what keep me going.**


	15. Chapter 15, The Shadow & The Hawk

**Hey eyerone! Sorry this took a while. Had quite a few distractiosn with work and other matters, but I finally managed to finish this.**

**Now there's an importnant announcement I need to make regardining this story. Some might have noticed that the YEAR 4 title now long er says "The Rise of Hydra" instead, it now says "The Rise of Hellspawn"**

**Yep. I've changed the name. I want you all to knwo this was nto a decision that wa smade lightly. I thought long hard about whether I should do this or not. I've always felt that Hydra wasnt' the best name for me to pick and wasnt' original enough, especially since it's more associated with Marvel. So in the end I deicided to change it to Hellspawn. It's more original, it sounds a bit more intimidating, and it fits the story a lot better. So I stand by my decision.**

**I've already made this change to previous chapters as well, so this is how it'll be from now on.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not quite as long as I hoped it would, but I'd say it's decent. We also learn a truth and finalyl meet another new character.**

* * *

**YEAR 4, The Rise of Hellspawn**

**2176: 4 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**11 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"With the intel gone, we were once again out of leads. But fortunately, we got lucky again with another chance. But this was going to be anything but a walk in the park. Though we did finally learn who it was we were after, little did we know what would soon come after…"_

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**The Shadow & The Hawk**

Fortune it seemed had smiled on Alpha after their latest loss. They'd recently been informed by the Arkane Council that a man named Ash Walker had some information on this anonymous organization they were attempting to track down and he wanted to come in with it.

Having been warned by Walker in advanced that the organization were aware of this as well and had sent some of their own soldiers after him, Alpha had been instructed to meet him and get him back to Arkadia safely where'd hand the data over.

Having arrived at the rendezvous point however, they found that someone might have beaten them to it. The house that Walker had instructed them to meet him had been ransacked and there were a few bodies. No sign of Walker either.

Before Alpha could do a more in depth search however, they suddenly heard a voice outside. They quickly fell quiet and activated their cloaks.

One of those dark armoured mercs they'd first encountered during one of the raids, appeared to be communicating with more of his men through his comm. He appeared to be alone.

Without saying a word, Austin nodded to Dah, giving him the confirmation that he wanted to spy to take him out stealthily. Dash took out one of his pistols and very carefully moved closer.

To make it easier, the merc then turned his back to the slightly open door. Dash readied to fire as soon as the merc had finished his message. That way they didn't alert the other mercs. Few brief seconds and he finally ended his call. Dash then lined his gun up and fired one silenced shot to the merc's head.

The merc jarred slightly then went limp and fell back onto Dash. The Scout took a quick moment to survey outside in case someone else might have noticed. No one capable of posing any danger had noticed.

"Clear." He said as he dragged the body out of sight.

With the coast clear, everyone else deactivated their cloaks.

"Overseer, this Alpha. We're at the rendezvous, but no sign of the package." Said Austin.

" _Copy that. What's the situation?"_ Telrass asked.

"Messy. The house is ransacked, Walker must've bugged out." Austin replied.

" _Understood. I'll track his omni tool and try to get a fix on him."_ Said Telrass.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Troy asked.

"Keep our eyes open and get ready to do some hunting." Ventra replied.

" _Alpha, this is Overseer, I've got Walker on comms. Patching him through directly."_ Said Telrass.

" _Hello? Are you there?"_ Walker's voice asked over the comms.

"Mr Walker, my squad's at the rendezvous ready to get you out." Said Austin.

" _Someone tipped them off, they're after me. I'm on the move. You'll have to come to me. The market. Hurry!"_ said Walker.

* * *

Sticking to the rooftops of the buildings, Alpha headed over to where the marketplace was.

"There he is. Visual on Walker." Said Ventra.

From below they could see Walker. He was wearing a hoodie in order to avoid notice and was also sticking to large crowds. At the same time more of the mercs had appear dint he streets and were looking for him.

"Hostile contacts, dead ahead." Said Sandra.

"Protect the VIP. Engage all hostiles!" Austin ordered.

Alpha fired a few stealth shots which took out some mercs, but that quickly caught the attention of the other mercs and a firefight quickly erupted. The crowds panicked and immediately scattered. Walker was able to use this to his advantage and he attempted to flee with them. One of the mercs however spotted him and attempted to fire on his position, forcing the man to dive for cover.

The entire market quickly turned into a war zone. The mercs fought just as hard as they had last time, but at least now they didn't have any tanks, which was good since Alpha didn't have the Hellraiser with them right now.

Alaara managed to fire quite a few biotic pulls, enabling everyone else to shoot the mercs one by one.

" _Alpha, this is Overseer. We're gonna make an attempt at the LZ, see if we can pull the VIP out."_ Said Telrass.

"Overseer, be advised, LZ is hot." Austin warned.

" _Understood, Alpha. We'll do our best."_

The gunboat soon came into view and started to hover near to where Walker was,

" _Hurry up!"_ said Walker as he waved his hands.

A sudden shot went right over Walker's head and at the gunboat.

"RPG!" Kraan yelled.

" _Watch it, INCOMING!"_ Telrass yelled.

Alexa just managed to move the gunboat away in time and the shot flew past her.

" _Sorry, Alpha, it's too tight down there. We're gonna have to bail."_ Said Alexa.

The gunboat quickly disappeared from view.

"Get clear, Alexa. We'll rally at secondary." Said Austin.

" _Roger that. Good luck."_

Walker was forced to run despite that several more mercs were still firing at him. Despite that Alpha provided what cover fire they could however, one shot ended up hitting him in the left arm.

" _Agh! I've been shot! Where the hell are you?!"_ he said.

He quickly ran to a nearby cable car that had been abandoned during the crowd's panic.

"Form up on me. We've got some climbing to do." Said Austin.

" _Alpha, this is Overseer. We've got a fix on the VIP's omni tool signal. We'll keep track of him for you."_ Said Telrass.

"Copy that." Austin acknowledged.

" _They're in the streets looking for me! What the hell are you doing?!"_ said Walker.

"We're clearing them out along the way. Sit tight." Austin replied.

* * *

" _This is Walker. Can you hear me?"_

"We read you. Go ahead." Austin replied.

" _I'm at the safe house. How much longer?"_ Walker asked.

"Two, maybe three minutes. Are you secure?"

" _No! They're right outside!" Walker replied._

"Just stay calm, alright? Keep your head down." Said Austin.

" _I should never have trusted you! And your people give me assurances?"_

"I assure you, we'll get you out, IF you do what we tell you." Austin said sternly, now getting a bit irritated by Walker's attitude.

" _Just hurry!" said Walker impatiently. Only a few seconds later though…_

" _Shit!"_

Gunshots then followed.

"Walker? Walker!" Austin yelled.

No response.

"We need to move. Now!"

Alpha quickly doubled their pace and were soon at the building. Only one life sign was registering inside.

"Ready to breach." Said Austin as everyone readied themselves. "NOW!"

Alpha burst, in, guns at the ready. Walker lay dead on the floor. Standing over him was a very familiar, but unwelcome face.

"You again?!" said Austin as he and Alpha raised their guns at the Helldiver Slayer.

"We have to stop meeting like this, Alpha." Said the Slayer jokingly.

"I'm only gonna say this once, Slayer. Hand over the data, or we will shoot you." Austin demanded as he and the others pointed their guns directly at her.

"Oh you're not the first Helldiver to say that to me… and you won't' be the last." The Slayer simply said. She then threw a flashbang grenade at the floor, temporarily blinding Alpha. She then leapt out of the window and took off into the streets.

"AFTER HER! She's not getting away this time!" Austin yelled.

Everyone immediately ran. Eventually they were forced to split up as they attempted to try and cut her off. With Dash being the fastest runner, he stayed on the Slayer's tail.

* * *

The Slayer quickly used her bitoics to propel herself over and ran into the construction sight. Dash soon followed, forced to climb over instead.

The Slayer took cover behind several stacked pipes and whipped out one of her pistols. She hadn't expected Dash to be this quick to keep up with her, let alone the rest of her squad. Clearly she had made them very desperate.

Taking a few deep breaths, she gently popped her head out and looked. No sign of her pursuers. Perhaps she'd lost them.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and several of the workers scattered as Kraan burst through a nearby hut and charged straight in her direction.

The Slayer immediately fired several shots, but at a range this far they did no damage whatsoever to the Krogan Helldiver's armour. He continued his charge, ploughing right through a fence, smashing a shipping container aside and finally started to knock the pipes aside.

The Slayer broke into a run again and retreated. Already she could see her path blocked by another wall. On top was the foundations and scaffolding for the building since it was being built on elevated flat ground. Once again using her biotics to propel herself, she jumped up just as Kraan smashed into the wall sending bricks and concrete flying everywhere.

Not daring to look back, she continued her sprint, jumped onto the scaffolding and started to climb up the building's beams.

Since Kraan was the heaviest and not the best climber, Ventra would have to take over. Using a nearby crane, he ran up it's arm.

One of the Salarians workers onsite meanwhile was trying to ward off the Slayer with a welding torch.

"GET BACK! GET BACK!"

The Slayer however remained unfazed by this. She swiftly leant back, allowing the welding torch to miss her by a few centimetres an then swung her foot which connected directly with the Salarian's jaw. He lost his balance and fell off the beam. Not even stopping to look, the Slayer continued her climb.

Ventra unfortunately noticed the Salarian fall too late and it was already too late. The poor alien fell to his death. Now all the more determined to catch the Slayer he leapt from the crane's arm onto the building. At the same time, the Slayer neared the top. Two Salarian security guards attempted to fire at the Slayer but she shot first before they could even aim. Both fell dead instantly.

As Ventra finally caught sight of the Slayer she suddenly leapt from the beams onto some pipes that were currently suspended in the air as they hung from the arm of a much taller and larger crane. While Ventra backed up slightly then made his own jump, the Slayer began climbing up the cable. She was already near the top by the time the Turian landed.

Rather than go through all the climbing that the Slayer had just gone through however, Ventra instead used his ingenuity. Disengaging the lock on the crane's mechanism and releasing the pipes it was holding up, the cables suddenly started to shoot back up, taking him with it.

While the Slayer was now trying to find her way on top of the crane's arm, Ventra worked on doing the same.

After getting on top, the Slayer tried to look for a way down. In her rush to try and get away from her pursuer she hadn't considered that there was no way down from here. A she looked around frantically she then spotted Ventra who had now climbed on top. She immediately drew her pistol again and pulled the trigger several times.

But no shot came out. The gun simply clicked with each pull. She was out of ammo.

Knowing that in the time it took her to get her other pistol Ventra would tackle her, she instead threw the now useless gun, hoping that it throw the Turian off balance. That plan however quickly backfired when Ventra easily caught it in one hand and threw it back at her. Unprepared for this, the Slayer failed to catch the gun and it hit her in the helmet, causing he rot lose her balance. She just managed to catch hold of the crane to prevent herself from falling.

Ventra quickly hopped down to the same level just as she managed to regain her footing. Pulling herself up slightly, she then kicked Ventra using both feet. The Turian Helldiver was knocked back slightly but he held on tight as well. The two began to exchange a series of blows while at the same time trying to keep their balance and not fall off. Even for a Helldiver, this height was a long way down.

A sudden thrust from the Slayer's hand managed to get a grip on his neck, but Ventra was quick to return this with several punches to the stomach. He then managed to deliver a kick to the inside of the Slayer's leg, temporarily causing her to lose her balance.

Still maintain her hold on Ventra however, she used this to pull him. The Turian just barely managed to grab onto the crane again as the Slayer let go, hoping she'd throw him to his death.

With the Turian struggling to pull himself back up, the Slayer seized her chance. She pulled herself back up on top of the crane and ran along it until she was certain she had the distance right. There was a nearby building she could get to and use to get back on ground. The jump to that though was too far. Even with her biotics, she'd never make it. In-between that and the crane she was on however was another crane. It was still quite a jump however. One wrong step or mistimed grip and she'd fall.

Taking a deep breath, the Slayer leapt. Ventra watched in almost amazement as she landed just right on the second crane and then jumped again and landed on the nearby building, rolling as she did.

For him, that would not be easy. He was much heavier than she was and he didn't' have biotics. He'd be damn lucky if he was able to jump the distance. Taking a deep breath, he jumped…

He fell for a few seconds, but soon got close enough to the crane. Right as he felt his foot touch it however, it slipped. The Turian just barely managed to grab onto something before he fell. Using all his strength, he pulled himself up.

The Slayer meanwhile once again broke into a run, leaping over and diving under any obstacles in her way.

Ventra just had one jump left. This time he knew he'd be alright. He'd be landing on flat ground that was more than big enough for him not to fall off.

As it turned out however, he overshot it a little bit. He still landed, but as he rolled while landing he ended up falling over the edge and landed rather hard on a nearby vent, denting it rather hard.

Shrugging this off however, he quickly resumed the chase.

The Slayer then used her biotics to make a massive leap onto the roof of another building, Ventra knew already he would never make that jump and he was forced to skid to a halt.

The Slayer looked back at him. Despite her face being hidden, she did look as though she was smiling smugly.

Right as she turned to run however, she suddenly found Troy standing in front of her with a gun aimed at her head.

"Hand it over, mademoiselle." He ordered casually.

The Slayer slowly turned to face him. Despite that she had a gun pointed at her, she did not seem angry or anything. She still remained calm.

Very slowly, she took the data out of one of the pouches on her belt and slowly held it out to try. Right as the spy tried to take it however, she suddenly threw it up into the air. With Troy's attention fully focused on the data, he failed to notice the Slayer suddenly snatch the gun out of his hand and kick him hard in the stomach causing him to stagger back right as the data started to fall again and the Slayer caught it in her hand again.

Troy though wasn't' about to give up and he put both his fists up.

"Come on. Put it up." He said challenging, but it had an undeniable sign of nervousness.

The Slayer simply remained unfazed by this. With an almost casual sense, she delivered a swift kick to Tory's head which immediately knocked him to the ground.

"Ow."

At the same time, Austin quickly appeared as well, having followed Troy onto the roof and had just seen the whole thing. He sighed. Clearly the spy wasn't very used to fist fights, especially with a Bounty Hunter.

The Slayer caught sight of Austin and immediately broke into a run again with the Helldiver in pursuit. She wa sable to jump onto another nearby roof, but soon realised she'd made a mistake. It was a dead end and the next nearest roof was too far away and too lwo down for her to jump safely, even with biotics.

"Nowhere to run now, Slayer." Said Austin as he slowed down.

The Slayer slowly turned.

"Normally I'd stay and fight you, but I have some data to deliver. So, as your French friend would say… adieu." She said.

To Austin's' surprise, she then backed away and jumped off the edge. As Austin ran up to the edge, he suddenly felt a huge gust of wind push against him as a dropship slowly hovered up into view… with the Slayer stood on top.

"Bollocks!" Austin swore.

Right as the Slayer hopped inside the dropship however, Austin took a small tracer from his combat belt and threw it at the Slayer. It attached to her back without her ever noticing.

The rest of Alpha finally managed to join Austin just as the dropship sped away.

"Merde! That's twice now." Said Troy.

Austin didn't say anything and simply remained silent. Secretly, he was already formulating another plan in his mind.

* * *

Austin had tracked the Slayer to power plant only a few miles or so outside the city. This time he was on his own. He'd felt that the reason the Slayer had always won was because she exploited Alpha's numbers, whereas the slat time he had fought her by himself he'd actually won. He reckoned this time he'd have the advantage. True it was probably against protocol, but he felt it was necessary to get this data. They probably wouldn't get another chance for years.

He continued tracking the tracer as it took him inside the power plant which, was all closed down due to the late hour, up the stairs until he was on top of one of the platforms. To his surprised though, the beeping only intensified, with still no sight of the Slayer. He moved forward a few more steps and the beeping soon turned into a high pitched constnant beep. This confused Austin a lot.

But then he looked down. There on the ground was the tracer.

" _Nice work, Austin. You walked right into a trap."_ He sighed in his head.

Sure enough, he quickly heard the Slayer's deep, altered voice behind him.

"Turn around."

Austin slowly turned. The Slayer had a gun aimed at him. Though Austin had his sword out already, he didn't want to do anything stupid.

"Did you really think I wouldn't think you'd put a tracer on me?" she said. "You Helldivers are so predictable. "

"Then you should know we don't' give up." Said Austin.

"Very true. And you especially, your reputation really does precede you." Said the Slayer. "A natural alliance soldier even now as a Helldiver."

Austin was slightly surprised by her saying that, but he did his best not to show it.

"That was a long time ago." He simply said.

"I used to be in the Alliance myself, you know. Did quite well myself, even became targeted as a possible Helldiver candidate." The Slayer explained. "But my CO grew jealous. He thought that he deserved that and not me. He framed me. Staged an accident that killed my whole unit and caused the loss of my eye. I was blamed for it all and dishonourably discharged." The Slayer explained. "I lost everything because of his jealousy..."

Austin did almost feel a bit of sympathy for the Slayer now. Because of someone's jealousy she'd become this. I things had been different…

"But I butchered that fucker." The Slayer added bitterly, suddenly causing Austin's feelings to change. "Broke back into the base and gouged out both his eyes for what he did to me. Unable to go back, I turned to this lifestyle. That's when I realized however that I was good at it. I slaughtered dozens across the galaxy, each kill increasing my reputation. I'd found my calling. So really, we're cut from the same cloth, you and I."

"I am nothing like you!" said Austin defiantly.

"You really think so? Tell me, how many have you killed in pursuit of what you call peace?" The Slayer asked.

"I've killed, yes. But always with good reason. But you… you kill for money, you kill for sport. You hunt my kin and take their armour." Austin replied.

"You of all people should know, Shepard, that peace is not the natural order of things in this galaxy. You're either the Predator, or you're the prey. And right now, the way I see it, you are the prey… and I am the predator."

"Proud of that, are you?" Austin asked.

"What happens, happens. To be honest, I used to find it quite dull." Said the Slayer as she started to circle the platform. Austin did the same. "Before I started hunting your kind and was just a normal bounty hunter, my enemies fell like domino, one after another. Not once did I feel threatened. I was adrift. Without challenge, without purpose… At times, I even envied my prey. At least they had a cause to die for. And then… I met him."

"Who?" Austin asked.

"And I knew what I'd been missing. He taught me how to hunt the most challenging prey in the galaxy… Helldivers. His ideals gave my life meaning. Ideals, Shepard. What are yours?" The Slayer asked.

"I… protect the weak." Austin replied.

"Still?" The Slayer asked, clearly unimpressed. "So naive."

"And if I must kill to protect them, then so be it."

"It seems we have less in common than I thought." Said the Slayer as she lowered her gun.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Said Austin. He could tell now that this was quickly going to turn into another duel.

"If you would kill for your ideals, then surely you are ready to die for them." said the Slayer. Unknown to Austin, behind her back she was holding a suit jammer in her other hand.

Before Austin could react in time, she then threw the device and it attached to Austin's chest. Immediately, his suit went offline and he fell on his back.

The Slayer walked up to the fallen Helldiver and stood over him, pinning him to the floor with her foot. She then removed the device and allowed him to move again, but she kept her gun pointed directly at his head.

"You were such a fool to take me on alone." She said mockingly. "I've always admired the armour you Helldivers use. Kartalrium coated Kevlar armour plating over a fluid suit mesh armour layer. Nice. Unless of course, you know exactly… where… to shoot."

The Slayer then poked her gun right into the left side of Austin's abdomen, the barrel just barely fitting in-between where the armour plates separated… and fired. The round pierced right through Austin's suit mesh, though his skin and into his body. An almost agonizing pain shot through the Helldiver's body and he could already feel blood pouring from the wound.

The Slayer temporarily took her foot off him and turned her back to him, obviously to gloat a bit. Seizing what little time he had, Austin quickly activated his omni tool and administered all the medi gel he had. It was enough to stop the bleeding at least, but the round still remained inside, and the wound still open. As a result, Austin was still in roughly the same amount of pain as he had been before. He'd hoped the medi gel would be enough, clearly he'd been wrong.

"I'll admit, you've been my most challenging opponent. No Helldiver's ever survived more than one encounter with me, let alone two." Said the Slayer. She then aimed directly at his helmet. "But now, I can finally relax… and kill you."

Summoning up all the strength he could, Austin then suddenly grabbed the gun, forced it to the side away from his face and then head-butted the Slayer really hard. Temporarily disoriented, the Slayer staggered back onto one knee. As she did however, she drew both her guns and blind fired, hoping to at least land a shot. By then however, Austin had vanished from her sight.

"You can't hide from me, Shepard! I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!" she yelled, holstering her pistols and switching to her sniper rifle.

From his hiding spot, Austin could see the red dot and beam coming from the Slayer's rifle as it swept over the area like the beam of a searchlight as she began searching for him.

" _I need to find a first aid station."_ Austin winced in his mind as he clutching his still painful wound.

The medi gel had stopped the bleeding, but the wound still wasn't fully healed and the round was still inside his body. Sure he'd live now and wouldn't bleed to death, but if he didn't get the wound properly sorted, there was no way he could continue fighting. To make things even harder for him, he'd used all his medi gel on stopping the bleeding alone. That round had been particularly nasty. Right now his armour had injected him with some painkillers to at least nullify the pain. They wouldn't last thing, and even with those, Austin still couldn't fight.

He quickly began scanning the area for a first aid station. This being a usually heavily worker populated area, there was bound to be at least one. It'd be stupid not to have one, especially if there was an accident.

Within just a few seconds, his suit located a nearby first aid station. Taking care to avoid, the Slayer's targeting laser, Austin climbed down from the platform and managed to get inside the nearby building.

Once he was sure he was safe and out of sight, he then walked up to the first aid station.

True he could've taken off his armour and just used a bandage, but with the Slayer hunting him that was a bad idea. If she suddenly found him with his armour off, he'd be dead before he even realized she'd found him.

He opened up one of the pouches on his combat belt and took out a small device. This small medical device would enable him to get the round out. The painkillers though were going to wear off very soon, so the experience would not be pleasant. He also couldn't try and get it out by hand using traditional tools. He was no doctor and there was too large a risk of him literally making a bloody mess of it.

He'd have to act fast though. Once the round came out, the wound might start bleeding again, and he needed to seal it up. Already he could feel the pain of the wound again as the painkillers began to wear off.

Taking a deep breath he activated the device and gently eased the end of it into the wound. It stung like hell and the Helldiver girt his teeth as the device began probing small little robotic arms around trying to find the round. His free hand gripped the table so hard it was beginning to crush in his hand.

Mercifully, just as the pain reached its worst, the red light on the device switched to green indicating that it was now locked onto the round and it could be pulled out. Very slowly and gently, Austin began pulling. The pain became even more unbearable, but it only lasted for a few seconds before Austin finally felt a welcome relief as the bullet left his insides.

He set both the device and the blood coated round on the table and then administered more medi gel. The pain slowly disappeared altogether and the wound finally sealed itself up completely.

Austin took a few deep breaths and then put the rest of his equipment back. He also restocked on all the medi gel he could carry. This time he was very determined to finish this rivalry between him and the Slayer.

The Slayer continued scanning the area with her sniper rifle, her finger itching to pull the trigger the second she spotted Austin. In his wounded state, he was bound to slip up, and when he did she'd take the shot.

She was caught completely off guard however, when someone suddenly grabbed her from behind, swung her around, grabbed her sniper rifle and suddenly kicked her in the stomach which knocked her back and caused her to lose grp of her sniper.

As she skidded to a halt, she looked up at her attacker. TO her surprise, there was Austin. It was as if he'd never been injured at all the way he was moving.

"What?!"

Austin then brought the sniper down onto his knee, smashing it in two.

"No more tricks, Slayer. Here and now, just you and me, and our blades." He said, letting all his guns to drop at his feet.

For a moment, the Slayer considered using her pistols, but her desire to get even with her opponent got the better of her. He wanted to die by a sword rather than a gun? So be it. She'd let him have this temporary joy. It would be short lived.

"I couldn't agree more." She said as she did the same. "Come then, Shepard. Let us settle this once and for all."

The two immediately charged and clashed swords, both drawing sparks as they clashed.

"Considering the last time we fought like this, I'm surprised you'd go along with it." Said Austin.

The Slayer didn't reply at first and instead suddenly back flipped, kicking him right in the helmet and temporarily disorienting him.

"Don't think you'll beat me so easily this time. I've learned much since then. Allow me to show you." She said.

She then used a biotic charge to shoot forward. Soon as she stopped she then leapt into the air and spun.

Austin just managed to counter the attack. As he did, he thrust forward with the Slayer then countered. As the thrust failed however, Austin then pulled up, letting the momentum of the pull bring Excalibur with his hand. He then let go of the sword and as it continued flying upward he switched his hold on the grip. Now he held it backhand and attempted a backhand stab. It was an old trick that Zartrack had taught him.

To his surprise however, the Slayer blocked that too and they both ended up in a blade lock.

"Interesting. Your mentor is Alkatran Zartrack, yes?" The Slayer asked.

This came as a bit of a shock to Austin. How had she known that? No one but Zartrack and his students knew moves like that and as far as he knew all those students were accounted for.

"How did you… Who are you? You say you were in the Alliance, yet you fight like a Helldiver. There's no way you could've learned all that just from hunting us." He said.

"I'm afraid that's for me to know, and you to find extremely irritating."

She then forced Excalibur to one side using her right hand sword. Her left hand meanwhile was brought back and charged with biotics. By the time Austin realized what she was about to do however, he was unable to react in time.

"Go to hell, Helldiver!"

The Slayer punched him right in the helmet, the force of the biotic punch sending him flying practically a mile away from the platform.

The flight was eventually stopped by a nearby pipe. Slowly the Helldiver managed to get back up, using his sword for support. There was no denying that move had taken its toll on him. He was dazed and disoriented, not to mention a little nervous now. It seemed the Slayer had indeed learned much since their last sword fight. Not to mention she was also using her biotics this time.

He had to admit, her use of them was almost quite fascinating. For human biotic she was very powerful, especially considering that humans weren't natural biotics and required implants. Austin could only assume she had an illegal modified implant that was either more powerful or less taxing on the body than usual.

As the Helldiver finally managed to steady himself, he suddenly spotted the Slayer land on the pipe not too far away from him.

"I'm still waiting to be impressed." She said mockingly.

This time Austin went more on the offensive and attacked more, trying not to give the Slayer any room for her to attack. As she spun to block another attack however she then turned the tables. As Austin thrust, she parried with on sword and spun. She then thrust using the other sword. It was off though and missed it's intended target, but it did strike a blow on Austin by cutting his side as it went in-between his plates and cut through a bit of his suit mesh.

The cut was only enough to draw a little bit of blood but it had been deep enough to hurt a fair bit. As the Slayer thrust again with both swords, Austin managed to pin both with Excalibur as they became lodged in-between the main blade and it's blade guard, effectively trapping them. Seizing the chance, Austin decided to get even with the Slayer. He delivered such a strong punch it actually sent the Slayer flying into the air. Not as much as it had been with him, but enough to make her feet leave the ground.

Once again however, the Slayer used this to attack. As she spun, she suddenly activated her biotics and used them to charge herself right into him, crashing the both of them straight through the pipe they'd been fighting on, right through one of the nearby buildings, through and oil tanker which quickly caught fire from the rupture and finally onto a concrete floor. Then quite a lot more of the refinery soon caught fire as well, practically surrounding the two in an arena of fire.

The Slayer back flipped off her opponent and continued until she was a decent distance from Austin, enabling him to get up.

Austin could now no longer deny how exhausted he was now. Why had he been such a fool to think he could take the Slayer on alone again? Why had he assumed this was the right course of action?

Summoning up what strength he had left, he managed to get back up, now really struggling and unable to stop his legs from shaking, not to mention the aching he had in his chest. That was definitely going to leave a bruise.

"This ends now!" said the Slayer, drawing her swords again and charging.

She jumped into a spin which Austin managed to back away from, his back leaning back slightly as a reflex action. The Slayer thrust twice with each sword, with Austin only just managing to parry each strike. A mistimed move however allowed the Slayer to cut him across the side.

A swift kick to his leg also sent him spinning in the air before he landed on the ground again. Using the momentum from this however, Austin quickly got back up and attacked again. The Slayer though once again parried his attack.

She then slashed at his back, both her blades cutting into his armour and once again cutting him. This was then followed by another swift spin kick before Austin had time to react, sending him to the floor. He was quick however to roll back onto his feet, shrugging the stinging injury off.

The Slayer had to admit, she was impressed with the Helldiver's endurance. She almost felt disappointed that she'd have to kill him. Such a worthy opponent for someone like her was rare.

She used another biotic dash which Austin attempted to slash at, but missed, nearly losing his balance as he did.

The Slayer then attacked from behind. Austin managed to block one sword, but the other went lower and ended up slashing his leg. Getting desperate now to try any attack, Austin attempted a thrust. The Slayer however pinned it under her right arm behind her back. Her left arm then hooked around his neck and with an almost frightening amount of strength, she suddenly pulled him off his feet and threw him to the floor, the impact knocking all the air out of his lungs.

As Austin rolled onto his front and attempted to stand back up however, the Slayer black flipped, landed on top of him and thrust her left blade right into his left shoulder, pinning him to the ground and emitting a cry of pain from him.

Unable to move with the sword pinning him in place, and his shoulder now burning with pain, Austin found himself unable to move. He was able to rotate his helmet just enough however that he could see the Slayer on top of him, expressionless mask of a dead Helldiver staring right at him.

"Know that you die having earned my respect, which is more than can be said for most." She said, raising her other blade and preparing to stab him in the heart.

Right before she could thrust however, a shot suddenly hit the sword, knocking it right out of her hand.

The Slayer immediately looked to where the shot had come from. On one of the upper levels was a figure on some kind of bike and holding a sniper.

"WHAT?!"

The figure then immediately holstered the sniper and the bike suddenly shot forward off the edge. The Slayer, unable to react in time, was hit by the bike as it landed and she went flying into some of the wreckage that the earlier explosions had caused. At the same time, the bike also managed to knock away the debris that had pinned Austin's arm earlier.

The bike then skidded to a halt, and it was now that Austin was able to see the rider more clearly. He was a Helldiver. A Ranger by the looks of him.

The Helldiver looked down at Austin and then extended his arm.

"Come with me if you want to live." He said.

For a moment Austin hesitated, but when he suddenly noticed the Slayer smashing her way out of the wreckage, he quickly took the Helldiver's hand who then pulled him onto the bike and immediately sped off.

By the time the Slayer had managed to free herself, she knew she had no chance of catching them, nor could she hit them with her sniper at this range.

* * *

Though Alpha were pleased to their Commander unharmed, the tone among them wasn't the best. At the same time, they weren't so happy to see Austin.

Alaara especially looked almost furious. In fact before Austin even got a chance to speak, the second he removed his helmet she suddenly slapped him really hard.

"How dare you! How dare you just leave us and go off alone like that! What were you thinking?!" the Asari yelled.

"I thought I'd have a better chance if I took her on alone." Said Austin, still a bit shocked at the fact Alaara had just hit him that hard.

"We're a team, Shepard! We stick together! Don't ever do that again." Said Sandra, taking her secret bond mate's side in this argument.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." Austin apologised.

"You'd better be."

"Well at least I know you're taking the Lieutenant role seriously." Said Austin managing a slight smile. "And, at least my plan did succeed."

He then took the data out of his combat belt and held it up for everyone to see.

"You got the data?" Leena said in surprise.

"Just barely. I would've been killed if not for Hawk." Said Austin.

"Hawk?"

Austin gestured to the Helldiver that had saved him earlier.

"That's my codename." The stranger said.

"But what's your real name?" Sandra asked.

"Does it matter?" Hawk simply replied.

"Have it your way." Sandra sighed.

"What were you doing int hat area anyway?" Ventra asked, a small hint of suspicion in his voice.

"I was simpyl int he neihborhood and spotted the conflict. Figured your Commander coudl use a hand." said Hawk.

"He saved my life. I owe him for that." Said Austin. "Anyway, Leena, start decrypting the data and let us know what you find."

Leena took the data and began the process of decrypting it on her terminal.

"By the way, Shepard. In case you're interested, we finally found some intel on the Helldiver Slayer. Took some digging, but we eventually found something solid on her." She said.

"Who is she?" Austin asked.

Leena pulled up the intel on the huge main screen so that everyone could see. Sure enough, there was the Helldiver Slayer's picture along with a rather extensive amount of intel.

"Tyranny Azula. A.K.A The Helldiver Slayer. Before that, originally known by her Bounty Hunter alias, **Shadow**." Leena narrated. "Former Alliance military, falsely accused of getting her squad killed and was dishonourably discharged as a result. Broke back in however and exposed the truth. From there, she apparently became a Bounty Hunter. Her career under the name Shadow lasted only about two years before she somehow vanished, She resurfaced a year later, only now going under the name Helldiver Slayer. Beyond that though, no other intel exists."

"This certainly explains where she received some of her training, but she fights like one of us, plus she knew that General Zartrack taught me. I fear there's more to her than we know. She obviously must've received extra training during her disappearance, but from who though? That's what I want to know. I recall her mentioning something about a "master" but beyond we've no idea who that is." Said Austin.

"Do you think she's connected in some way to these raiders we've been tracking?" Ventra asked.

"I doubt it. They're probably just another employer to her." Austin replied.

A short while later, Leena finally managed to finish decrypting the data. Her reaction seemed somewhat mixed though.

"Okay, well I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is there's not much intel. The good news however is that it does at least make some mention of who's been behind these raids." She said. "A terrorist organization called **Hellspawn**."

"That sounds more like something we'd have. The Arkanes are often known for giving us names with the word "Hell" in them." Said Dash. "Wonder if that says something about them…"

"Dash, shut up." Said Kraan.

"Anyway, I already checked through every single database we have, even some of the…" "restricted ones. There's nothing affiliated with us under the name Hellspawn." Said Leena.

"Then I doubt it's coincidence. They've presumably chosen that title for a reason." Said Austin. "You sure there's nothing else?"

"Only the name of their leader. Nothing but speculation though. The only thing intel agrees upon is his name… **The Commander**."

* * *

**I've already started work on the next chapter, and all I'll say is that it's gonna quite a dark one. Alpha are about to finally come face to face with their arch enemy.**

**Hopefulyl I wont' take as long, so see you next time. :)**


	16. Chapter 16, The Black Helldiver

**I imagine this comes as a welcome surprise.**

**After I wrote a certian scene in this, I decided to set myself a deadline to get this done in tiem for Haloween, and I succeeded.**

**So this is it. This is where ALpha finalyl meet their arch enemy.**

**I'll warn you all right now this chapter is rather dark. It contains extreme scenes of torture (and I do mean extreme), blood, explicit gore detail, and a scary scene. So it's probably not for the faint of heart  
**

**HAPPY HALOWEEN! Hahahahahahaha! ;)**

* * *

**YEAR 4, The Rise of Hellspawn**

**2176: 4 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**11 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"Now we knew the name of our enemy. But it was from there our story was about to take a very dark turn, and stay that way for several years. We were soon to be reminded of what the true definition of evil really was._

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**The Black Helldiver**

"We are Hellspawn! I am its Commander! And you, Helldivers… you will pay for your interference!"

Those were the last words spoken before the transmission terminated.

A week had passed since Alpha had learned about Hellspawn and its leader. Now it seemed that organization had emerged with what could only be described as an "attempt" at a threatening message.

Alpha had to be honest, the transmission had been rather underwhelming. The figure in the message who called himself the Commander seemed to be just a hooded figure with a rather shrill and raspy voice. In fact he even spoke like someone who was in love with the sound of his own voice.

The symbol for Hellspawn, which had been shown in the transmission, was simply that of skull and crossbones (using knives and guns instead of bones)

"That's it?" said Dash, almost in confusion. "That's the leader of the organization we've been looking for?"

"I know. From what the Intel suggested, and the fact that they hired the Slayer; I was expecting someone more… threatening or cold and calculating. But this guy, I can barely take seriously." Said Sandra.

"Cold calculating types don't usually bother with terrorism. It's too risky for them. Most terrorists are ordinary people. Of course that doesn't make what they do any easier to forgive." Said Austin.

"Always the voice of wisdom." Said Alaara.

"Least this means we'll be able to take them down easier." Said Kraan, banging his fists together.

"And it would seem that time is now." Said Austin. "I just received a message from the Arkane Council. They managed to trace the message."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Dash optimistically.

Oddly, the signal's point of origin seemed to be …. Just outside the star cluster where the Citadel was located. Both worrying that the threat was so close, and at the same time confusing. Alpha would've thought that Hellspawn would be out in the farthest reaches of the terminus systems were it would be hard to find them.

"Are you sure this is right?" Leena asked, puzzled.

"Positive." Sandra replied.

"Doesn't make any sense though. Why hide in Council space?" said Ventra.

"Well if you think about it, it's the last place we would think to look. Sometimes the closer you are to danger, the further you are from harm." Austin simply shrugged.

"I still get the feeling this might be a trap. It's too easy. The Council tracked the signal very easily, and the mansion it's coming from doesn't seem that heavily guarded." Said Alaara.

"We're always trained to expect the worst." Said Hawk, loading up his sniper rifle.

* * *

The mansion had plenty of security, but it wasn't' enough for Alpha to even feel challenged. This was sort of security they were taught to avoid in basic training.

Soon they reached the back entrance.

"Can you get us in?" Austin asked.

"Please. I was taught how to hack through these in basic training." Said Leena smugly.

She walked up to the control panel and began hacking in using her omni tool. She seemed to find it even easier than she found she would.

"Wow, these are dated. Someone needs to upgrade their security protocols." She said.

Sure enough, she managed to gain access without any difficulty. Once everyone was inside, it didn't' take them long to find what they were looking for. They were one floor above where there was some kind of set. Cameras, dark lighting, and in the centre of it all, the Commander himself, clad in nothing but black robes and a hood that hid his face entirely.

Austin took a charge from his belt and placed it on the floor.

"This is it, Alpha. We do it by the book, take the Commander alive and avoid killing anyone that's unarmed." Said Austin.

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay… 3… 2… 1!"

The device exploded and everyone leapt down the hole, immediately pointing all their guns at the camera crews and the Commander.

"Everyone on the ground, now!" Austin yelled.

Everyone immediately got down on their knees, including the Commander.

"Bloody hell. Bloody hell!" he said.

"Don't move." Austin ordered as forced the Commander's hood back.

He'd almost expected a hideously scarred or deformed face. Instead it was just a perfectly normal human face with a slight beard and moustache and bald head.

"I'm not moving." He said. "You want something, take it. Although the guns are all fake, we don't use real ones."

"What?"

"Well you see…"

"Just shut up, you! We're only gonna ask you once. Where's the Commander?!" Kraan growled.

It seemed clear now this man in front of us was not the Commander. He couldn't be. Clearly this had been a decoy or something.

"He's here. Well, he's here but he's not here."

"What do you mean?"

"It's complicated."

Finally getting sick of this, Austin shot one of the lights to show that he meant business. That was enough to get the decoy to talk.

"Who are you?!" Austin asked.

"My name's Shane. Shane Walters." The decoy replied.

"What are you, a decoy? You're a double, right?"

"What? No, of course not." Said Shane.

Austin however raised his gun to tell Shane to make sense.

"Don't hurt the face! I'm an actor! An actor!" he immediately said.

"What?"

"It's just a role." Shane explained. "The Commander, it's not real."

"Why? Why are you masquerading as a terrorist?" Sandra asked.

"It's my job. I was paid millions for it, and I really needed the money so how could I not refuse? They gave me things, they gave me this palace, they gave me all I could want. The thing was, he needed someone to take responsibility in order to throw of the scent of some… "people" who were hunting him." Shane further explained.

"He? He who? Who hired you?" Kraan asked.

"I don't know. I was hired anonymously by some secret organization that said they needed someone to pose as a leader called the Commander for some organization called Hellspawn. Not related to you at all is it?" Shane asked.

"We'll ask the questions here, mate." Said Austin sternly as he forced the barrel of his assault rifle right up close to Shane's forehead.

"So you took on the role of a terrorist for someone unknown because of the money?" said Alaara.

"Yes." Shane replied. "That's it. Just a harmless bit of acting. Nothing more."

"Well I'm sorry but we've gone through a lot and nearly died to find the truth about this "secret organization" so you're going to have to answer for that. You better have some kind of Intel we can use to track them down or else I may as well just put a bullet in your head." Austin threatened.

He wasn't being serious of course. He was only bluffing in order to get Shane to talk.

"The datapad! This datapad contains all I have on this mysterious organization. Most of it's encrypted, and it's mostly just messages, but it's at least something." Shane said quickly as he took a datapad out of his robes.

"Well done. You just saved yourself from death." Said Kraan.

"So I'm free to go?" Shane asked hopefully.

"Free? I don't think so, pal. You're under arrest." Said Austin as he cuffed the actor's wrists.

* * *

Alpha were somewhat disheartened by another loss. They'd been so sure this would be it. Though they had to be honest, it had been far too easy.

"Can't believe we were fooled by this." Dash sighed.

"None of us could've known. Still, the Slayer went through a lot of trouble to keep this fake data safe." Said Sandra.

"Well it helped fool us."

"Any progress on the other data?" Austin asked.

"Not yet. Still decrypting." Leena replied.

"Shepard, we're getting a call." Said Sandra. "It's General Zartrack."

"Zartrack?" Austin asked in surprised. "Patch him through."

The holo image of the legendary Arkane Helldiver General himself appeared in front of everyone.

His armour had the same helmet design that all Helldivers had. Once again though there were some additions. In particular there were two large horns attached to the helmet and he had a large white mane attached to his back and shoulders. In addition he had several ammo canisters strapped to his armour and three katanas on his back. Overall he had a warlord type of look to him and also a look that was distinctive enough that anyone would recognize him anywhere.

" _Shepard, it's been a long time."_ He said.

"It's a pleasure to see you as well, General." Said Austin as he saluted. "What can I do for you?"

" _I saw your report from the mission. Seems the hunt is still on."_ Said Zartrack.

"Unfortunately yes. But Leena's already decrypting some more data we managed to recover. Hopefully, this one will give us the break we've been waiting for." Said Austin.

Sure enough, at that moment, a beep suddenly came from Leena's computer.

"Commander, data decryption complete." She said.

"Send it through to Zartrack as well." Austin ordered.

There was a short pause as Leena began analysing the data. She then spotted something rather interesting.

"Oh those sneaky little boshtets." She said.

"What is it?"

"Hellspawn are still real." Said Leena.

"What?!"

"They knew we were on to them, so they created a decoy of themselves. The Quarian explained.

"Why though? Why not simply create an entirely separate decoy?" Austin said.

" _Once again, last thing we'd have expected."_ Said Zartrack.

"So they're still out there?"

"Yes, but I think I saw something in there about a location. Hang on." Said Leena.

She pressed a few more buttons. Suddenly the screen went rather static.

"Whoa. Okay, that's not meant to happen." Said Leena, backing away in surprise.

"Is it a virus?" Sandra asked in worry.

"No, it's some kind of… message." Said Leena puzzlingly.

The screen then went even more static. Then it suddenly went black.

A new image then appeared on the screen. A fiery ring of skulls, each one of every alien species in the galaxy. In the centre, half the skull of a human and the other half the helmet of a Helldiver.

A small bit of text then also appeared. It only read four words…

" **DID YOU MISS ME?"**

Everyone felt a little uneasy after that. They had no idea what it meant. Far as they were aware, there weren't any of their old enemies that could've come back. Not to mention that this symbol they'd just seen was something they had never seen before at all. Even Zartrack seemed to give the same impression.

"Okay… that's rather creepy." Said Dash nervously.

"General, do you know what it means?" Austin asked.

" _I wish I did. We've made a lot of enemies in our time, but I don't know of any that could pull off something like this."_ Zartrack replied.

"Are you sure?"

" _I swear it."_

"Leena, tell you have something."

A part of the holo map then suddenly lit up and zoomed in on a planet way out in the terminus systems.

"Yes! Yes, I've got it!" said Leena, almost excitedly. "The intel points to a remote location on this planet here."

"That makes more sense. Seems like the sort of place you'd find a terrorist organization." Said Ventra.

" _And as luck would have it, there's been a report from a nearby Helldiver squad of suspicious activity there."_ Said Zartrack. _"You should act on this immediately. I'll notify the council."_

"Roger that, General." Austin nodded.

" _Be careful, Shepard. If it's the real thing this time, I imagine they won't go down without a fight."_ Said Zartrack.

"We're counting on it." Said Austin.

* * *

Two days, Shane had been in prison now. To be honest, it hadn't been that bad. His sentence was only for 6 months after all.

Plus, he did seem to get some attention. Most unfavourable due to everyone finding his performance of the Commander a joke, but there were a few who admired him for it.

Recently in fact, he'd been interview regularly by a woman named Jane Smith. Apparently she was a doctor who was studying him in some fashion.

He'd already recounted everything to her such as his recruitment by an unknown client, his interpretation of the role he'd played, and now they'd moved on discussing the response.

"So what about the fact that you're performance has caused… anger with some people? Some who are particularly dangerous." She said.

"You don't' need to tell me, sweetheart. I've seen those extranet message boards. Vicious." Said Shane.

"I'm not talking about the extranet boards. I'm talking about Hellspawn." Said Jane as she took out several datapads and set them on the table in front of Shane.

"Come again?"

"A terrorist group. Founded and lead by The Commander. Officially they've been dormant ever since their creation, but it's been recently suggested they're becoming more active and may finally be ready to reveal themselves." Jane explained.

Each datapad showed some kind of image pertaining to what looked like terrorism. One above all stood out. It appeared to show some kind of ring of skulls, each one of every alien species in the galaxy. In the centre was half the skull of a human and the other half the battered and broken helmet of a Helldiver. The entire ring, along with each skull also appeared to be on fire.

"What, Hellspawn? Are they real?" Shane asked, almost in disbelief.

"This intel comes from the top." Jane replied.

"That is so cool." Said Shane admirably.

"Shane, you told me that you got this role you had researched it thoroughly." Said Jane, somewhat baffled by the fact that Shane didn't realise that Hellspawn were real.

"I'm an actor, love. I always lie in interviews." Shane admitted smugly.

"So you mean to tell me that you don't know anything about the real Commander himself?" said Jane. "Trust me when I tell you, he is someone who's bad side you do not want to get on. He puts a whole new meaning on the words fear and evil."

"Blah blah blah. Who cares?! It's not role the people remember, it's the actor. Me!" said Shane.

"You're right. And for that offense you will soon suffer horribly with a hole in your body." Said Jane.

"Sorry? What?"

"You heard me."

Jane suddenly whipped out two pistols and shot down all the guards surrounding them with almost lightning speed.

When she suddenly turned back to Shane and aimed her gun at him however, she found that he'd managed to pick up on of the fallen guard's guns and was pointing it at her.

A long silence followed.

"You know… I can't think of a single thing to say." Shane eventually said.

"You're not capable of pulling that trigger, Mr Walters." Said Jane.

"I'm an out of work actor, love. You've no idea what I'm capable of, and thanks to some of my previous work I'm pretty good with a gun." Said Shane.

"Still not capable of pulling that trigger." Jane smiled smugly.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because the safety is still on."

Shane looked at his gun. The safety wasn't on.

"No it's not…"

But before he could finish, Jane suddenly fired. Her shot knocked the gun right out of his hands.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"If you really knew how to use a gun, you'd know to never take your eyes off your opponent." Said Jane, the barrel of her gun now touching Shane's forehead.

To Shane's surprise, Jane then literally pulled off her hair, revealing it to actually be a wig. In its place was a medium length amount of black hair. She then did something even more surprising and literally removed her right eye, revealing that also to be fake. In its place was a blue cybernetic one.

"Wait… wait, I know you. You're that bounty hunter I've heard so much about." Said Shane.

"Consider this a lesson in what's real… and what's not." Said Shadow. In the process, she pulled back her right sleeve to reveal the same symbol that Shane had seen earlier in the datapads about Hellspawn.

"Why do people keep pointing guns at my head. Please, I don't want to die." Said Shane.

"Target acquired. I'm in position. Extraction unit mobilize." Said Shadow as she touched her ear. She then turned back to Shane. "Oh I'm not here to kill you, Mr Walters. I'm here to break you out."

"That's… nice." Said Shane.

"Not really. You see, my employer wants to meet you." Said Shadow.

"Do I know him?" Shane asked.

"No. But under his orders you take his name… and then made a complete mockery of it. Now he wants it back." Shadow replied.

"Oh…. No, sorry. I still don't' get it."

"You will."

And with that, Shadow suddenly hit him over the head really hard with her gun, knocking him out instantly.

* * *

A cold chill greeted Shane as he slowly regained consciousness. He found himself lying on a rather cold stone floor. As his vision slowly cleared, he expected to be able to see something, yet even when he was finally able to see his own hands clearly, he saw nothing else. Wherever he was, it was completely pitch black, save for a little bit of mist and fog.

He found the air surprisingly dry and he actually coughed a bit at the dryness in his throat. Each breath of this air felt like there was barely any oxygen in it, and it made him shiver as an icy chill ran throw his body with each inhale.

He looked around a bit more, trying to see any form of light, but there was nothing. He looked up, hoping he might see the night sky or something like that… still nothing.

He gradually stood up, his legs almost struggling from the effort. He began to worry how long he'd been out. He also rubbed his head as a slight headache suddenly came to him, particularly in the area where Shadow had hit him.

As he continued looking around, he began to get a rather worrying and uneasy feeling. Where was this place? How did he get here? **Why** was he here? He felt an almost constantly nagging feeling that he should leave, but that was difficult when he couldn't see a thing.

He took a few cautious steps, his hands stretched out in front of him as though he were blind in a hope that he'd touch something in the darkness.

Within just a few steps, it seemed as though the fog suddenly grew thicker. The cold grew worse, and he began to feel his teeth chattering, each continuous breath constantly fuelling his coldness. Was he in the North Pole or some place?

The uneasy feeling he'd had earlier began to grow worse and the headache seemed worse too. Now it not only hurt where he'd been hit, it now hurt everywhere, as though his brain was being crushed by his skull.

Several more steps later, and he suddenly felt his hand touch something. It felt solid. It was very cold, but at the same time smooth like the floor. He cautiously edged a bit closer to see. It looked like some kind of black stone, or marble. On closer inspection it looked like he was touching the base of a statue. When he looked up however, he saw nothing. It was just too dark.

A new feeling came to him. It was that feeling that someone often got when they thought someone was right behind them. For a long while, Shane dared not turn around for not only fear that someone actually was behind him, but also fear of what he might see.

Then he heard something. He wasn't sure for certain, but it sounded almost like a footstep. Despite it being a relatively quiet sound, and not something sudden it was enough to make Shane jump and is if by reflex he quickly turned, partly braced for whatever he might see.

Nothing.

All he saw was more fog, and that made it all the more harder to actually see anything.

Then he suddenly spotted something out of the corner of his eye. His eyes almost immediately darted to the location.

Still nothing. Just more thick fog.

Shane tried to relax. It was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. He tried to take a deep breath, but each inhale of this cold icy air actually hurt. Like he was breathing in a substance that was slowly eating away at his lungs from the inside.

After a few seconds, Shane finally turned back to the stone he'd touched earlier. He ran his hand along it and followed, hoping this might lead him to something else, preferably a light or fan switch, something that would allow him to see better.

It went on for a surprisingly long time. With each step, the fog grew even worse now, and eventually it became so thick that Shane could just barely still see his own hand. His eyes began to sting as well and he had to blink almost every second to stop them hurting.

A sudden sound made him stop dead in his tracks. It was very faint and he only just heard it, but the sound was unmistakable. The sound of a terrified scream stayed in his head for a long time. It almost petrified him and he became too afraid to move for fear of what might happen.

He dared to risk one little step. The moment he did however, another scream came, this time louder and sounding so close it could've been right in front of him for all he knew.

And then he heard something worse. It was only a whisper, but it was definitely a voice.

" _Look behind you."_

Shane almost immediately fell to his knees in fright, closed his eyes and covered his face hoping and praying that he'd be safe.

" _I said look behind you."_

As the long and unbearable seconds passed, another sound came to his ears. This time constant, and very audible. It was hard to tell exactly, but it sounded almost like a very warped church bell. It constantly rang in his ears and he worried he might go deaf from the sound of it. Still, he dared not look or remove his face from his hands for fear of what might happen next.

Still the ringing continued. No more screams followed, but every so often he'd hear another footstep here and there. Some very far away, some frighteningly close to him.

Eventually after what felt almost like an hour, he heard nothing. Still there was the church bell sound constantly ringing in his ears, but there were no screams or footsteps. Finally plucking up some courage, Shane dared to risk one little glance.

All he saw was more fog, just as thick as it had been before. Very slowly, he got up, still cautious just in case something happened.

He took a very cautious step forward…

Nothing happened.

Shane breathed sigh of relief. Perhaps whatever it had been making those noises was gone. But that didn't stop him from feeling like he wasn't alone and that someone, or something, was watching him.

He calmly reached back to try and find the wall again, but he only ended up touching more fog. This confused Shane greatly. He'd only taken one step, he couldn't possibly have gone that far from the wall, could he?

He stepped back a few paces, still keeping his hand out expecting it to touch stone again, but all it ever touched was more fog.

The confusion baffled him. He was confused afraid, cold, and was starting to feel rather dizzy and unfocused. He'd completely lost his bearings, and he was still afraid that any second something was going to jump out of this fog and attack him.

Then suddenly, as if by magic, all of the fog disappeared as though it had never been there. The air was still dry and freezing though.

Shane once again looked round, expecting to now see something. But there was still nothing but black. Then something new happened. He smelt something. He may be confused and frightened, but a human would recognize that kind of smell anywhere, the unmistakable smell of smoke.

This made Shane both worried and hopeful. Where there's smoke, there's fire, and fire meant light and warmth.

But at the same time, was it just a little campfire, or was this the sort of fire that Shane didn't want? The kind that was big, out of control and burned down buildings?

At this point, Shane was too cold and desperate to see something other than his own hands that he didn't care. Following the smell, he started walking a rather fast pace.

Suddenly the screams returned, this time constant and loud, followed by an almost demonic laughter. Shane though at this point had become desperate, he couldn't stop himself. Still he continued walking. The screams and laughter only intensified, blocking out the sounds of his own footsteps. Suddenly a new noise came to his ears, the sound of fire crackling. Shane immediately quickened his step, he must be getting close.

More and more intense it grew, he heard further screams of terror and pain, some voices even whispering about fire, and being burned. Still though Shane continued, hoping any second to catch sight of that welcome orange glow…

And then it all stopped. Shane suddenly felt his foot catch on something and he tripped, landing on something unbelievably ridged. The familiar feeling of the cold black stone greeted him. When he finally opened his eyes he once again saw the same black smoothness, only this time it wasn't a wall. He'd tripped and was currently lying on a flight of steps. He slowly looked up to where they led. At the very top he could see what looked like some kind of stone slab.

Shane was just about to pick himself up when a new, haunting, noise suddenly made him freeze. The very slow sound of stone grinding against stone filled his ears. He watched as the slab slowly rotated, revealing that it was actually the back of a throne of some kind.

Shane's heartbeat increased to an almost unbearable level and sweat poured down his face as he was frozen with fear, waiting to see what was sat on the throne.

Finally it stopped as it faced him. It was still so dark that Shane could barely see. But he saw something alright. A large dark figure of some kind. He could only see the shape, but there was one other thing that he did see that stood about above all else.

Eyes. Two crimson red eyes were staring right at him.

Shane dared not move. He barely even breathed as he simply lay there on the stairs. He stared at the figure, and it just stared right back, unblinking and unmoving.

Then a voice spoke. A deep growling and almost unnatural voice with a terrifying echo came from the figure. Each word sending chills down Shane's spine and only amplifying his fear.

" **Welcome, Shane Walters. I have been expecting you."**

Then slowly the figure began to rise. Eventually standing up at an almost terrifying two metres, it slowly began to move forward.

Shane almost immediately picked himself up and tried to run. The very second his feet left the steps however a massive wall of flame suddenly leapt to life in front of him and blocked his way. Shane tried to turn to go the other way, but there was fire there too. Shane stopped and backed away from the intense heat, yet still he felt like he was boiling.

He looked around in desperation. The whole place was on fire, and he was trapped.

He looked back at the figure. To his horror, the figure was on fire too, now looking practically like a demon of some kind. He still couldn't see what this thing actually was, but he was certain that it intended him harm.

From behind him, Shane could also see the throne more clearly. What he saw only made his terror worse. The throne looked as though it was composed of bodies. Worse still they were writhing and screaming as they tried to free themselves from the throne, but to no avail.

Suddenly he felt something touch his leg and before he knew it he was pulled to the ground. To his horror, he found dozens of corpses swarming him, each one trying to seize him and pin him to the ground. He tried to shake them off, but there was too many of them. Within seconds, all his limbs were pinned down.

The screaming, the laughing and the warped church bell once again returned, this time so loud, Shane felt like he'd go deaf any second. He braced for the inevitable that these undead would kill him any second, but they didn't. Instead they just kept him pinned in place.

Some of them then parted to allow the terrifying figure to walk past them, some of fire causing them to catch fire as well, yet they did nothing, nor did they give any indication that they were in pain.

The figure slowly knelt down and moved closer until its face was right up close to Shane, the heat from the fire singing his eyebrows and facial hair.

It was now that he was finally able to see the figure's true form.

Despite how dry his throat was and the fact that there was barely any air left for him to breath, Shane cried out in terror as the figure spoke again, this time just saying two words.

" **Scared yet?"**

* * *

The wheels of the Hellraiser gently touched down on the ground and the gunship detached.

" _Be careful down there, Alpha."_ Said Telrass.

The Hellraiser was quick to speed off in the canyon area. Despite the rainy weather, that did little to slow it down. Soon though, they came to an area too small for the giant tank to fit in.

"No way we're gonna fit through there. We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot." Said Austin as he raised his harness.

Dash simply sighed as her got out of his seat and followed the others. At the same time, he engaged the Hellraiser's deadlock system and cloaking device. Last thing any of Alpha wanted was for this to possibly get stolen or sabotaged, him most of all.

They proceeded through the gap and into the canyon. Soon as they got only a few metres in however something rather odd happened. For a brief moment, all their HUDs went static for a moment before returning to normal.

"What the…" said Leena in surprise.

"Overseer, this is Alpha. We're getting some interference here. What's the issue?" Austin asked.

" _Unknown, Alpha. Could be the terrain. I'll see if I can clean it up."_ Telrass replied.

"Copy that."

* * *

They continued on for several long minutes. Still there was no sign of anything. No base or anything or even the other Helldivers who said they'd meet Alpha here.

Suddenly the static happened again, this time way more intense.

"Agh. That one was even worse." Said Ventra.

"Something's way wrong here. There's no way our gear should be acting this way." Said Leena.

More static again, making it a lot more difficult for them to communicate with each other.

"Cross comms getting worse." Said Dash.

"Mine too." Said Kraan.

"Sandra, any adjustments you can make locally?" Austin asked.

"Nothing that would help. It's something about this place." Said Sandra.

For a moment, Ventra suddenly stopped and looked around for a moment.

"What is it, Ventra?" Austin asked.

"I keep getting the feeling we're being watched." The Turian replied suspiciously.

"Our sensors aren't picking up anything. It's probably just your imagination." Said Sandra.

"For all our sakes, I hope you're right."

* * *

They continued on for several more minutes, the canyon getting much deeper and also taller. It was hard for Alpha to deny their concern. More and more this canyon looked like the perfect place for an ambush.

Their maps indicated they were close, but so far nothing. No guards or anything. Finally as they got close enough that they should've been able to see their target however, things eventually started to take a turn for the worse. Telrass' voice suddenly came through the comms again, but it was barely audible.

" _Alpha, this is Overseer, we just…"_

But it suddenly cut off and was completely replaced with static before Telrass could finish.

"Overseer? Overseer, we just lost you. Say again." Said Austin. But there was no reply. "Overseer, do you read me?"

"I've completely lost the signal, Sir. I don't understand it." Said Sandra.

Once again, all their HUDs suddenly went static, this time even worse than before.

"For god's sake, stop it!" said Dash in frustration.

Ventra suddenly whirled round in alarm and drew one of his arrows. He didn't' fire, but he kept it drawn, as if expecting an attack any second.

"Ventra?"

"I'm sorry, guys. But I'm sure now that we're not alone. The interference, losing contact with Telrass, this isn't coincidence. Especially since we've just entered…" he said. "Oh no."

"What?"

The answer quickly came when everyone found hundreds of laser dots, all pointing right at every single one of them.

"Oh bloody hellfire." Austin sighed.

"It's a trap." Ventra also sighed.

Everyone went to raise their weapons, but the second they did, several shots suddenly fired out of nowhere and hit them.

They almost immediately felt a massive surge of electricity from all their suits. They all immediately shut down and fell, completely frozen and unable to move.

"Suit jammers. Really beginning to hate those." Hawk groaned.

All they could do was look from inside their helmets. Confirming their suspicions, several figures soon appeared. Either rising from behind rocks, or shedding camo disguises and other such old fashioned ways of remaining out of sight.

" _Alpha, this Overseer, I just lost all your signals! What happened?!"_ Telrass yelled. _"Alpha? Alpha?! ALPHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_

* * *

Very slowly, Austin felt himself regain consciousness. The room he was in was darkly lit, but it was enough for him to see.

As he slowly looked up, he found another Helldiver knelt down in front of him and looking right at him as he regained consciousness.

This Helldiver looked incredibly worse for wear. The metal of his armour was way darker than the usual colour, he had scratches all over and he wore black sleeveless trench coat that reached all the way down to his ankles. It was rather tatty and even had some tears and holes in it at the bottom. He was equipped with two sub machine guns across his chest, and another two on each thigh. He also wore a tight fitting black hood which practically hugged his helmet.

"Ah good. You're awake." He said, his voice sounding surprisingly normal for a Helldiver considering they often had their voices changed a little by the helmets.

"Where… where are we?" Austin groaned slightly. He was able to relax slightly knowing he was in safe company.

"You're safe. But first, might I ask why you're all the way out here?" the Black Helldiver asked.

"We came here looking for the real Commander. We were told you knew where he was." Austin replied.

"The Commander?" the Black Helldiver said in surprise. "Never heard of him."

Austin was about to speak, but then a light suddenly came on, revealing another person on the knees with a bag over their head. He was also knelt on a puddle of dry blood.

The Black Helldiver walked up to him and took the bag off. Austin was shocked to see none other than Shane. He had tape over his mouth and looked pretty beaten up, but it was definitely him. The Black Helldiver slowly circled him.

"And you, sir… the name, Commander ring a bell?" he said as he ripped the tape off of Shane's mouth.

"Please… I'll do anything you want, just no more. I can't take it." The actor begged.

To everyone's utter horror, the Black Helldiver then suddenly upholstered one of his guns and used it to repeatedly beat Shane across the face several times.

"CAN'T YOU JUST PLAY ALONG?!" he said. His voice suddenly changed from being normal to a much deeper and almost terrifying growling voice with an almost unnatural echo.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Austin yelled, he attempted to get up to stop the Helldiver, but he suddenly found that he was shackled in place, as was everyone else.

And then it finally hit them all. The awful truth. They came to find the Commander… and they were looking right at him. The real Commander… was a Helldiver.

After finally finishing his beating of Shane, leaving the actor even more bloodied on the floor, the real Commander slowly turned to look at Alpha.

"I'll deal with you lot in a minute. But first I have some unfinished business to conclude." He said, turning back to Shane.

"Why are you doing this?" Shane asked weakly as he spat blood. "It was only a role."

"I gave you that role to be as distraction only. Not for you to make me and my organization look like a joke. The only way you could've possibly done anything worse is to create a hugely popular RPG franchise and ultimately have it end with only three choices that are virtually the same and differently coloured." Said the Commander angrily. "God, there mere thought of that depresses the hell out of me."

"HEY! Only I'm allowed to break the fourth wall in this story!" said Dash.

He was quickly silenced however when the Commander suddenly fired a shot that barely missed his head.

"You stay quiet, kid. Or I'll put one in your mouth first." He warned.

Dash immediately stopped talking.

The Commander then turned back to Shane again. He knelt down until his helmet was right up close to Shane's face.

"Many of my followers now call for your blood, Mr Walters. And I… being a man of his word… am more than happy to oblige."

To everyone's horror, he then shot Shane in the leg so many times that he literally severed it completely from his body, blood gushed from the wound and all over the floor. Shane screamed in pain. He attempted to grab his bleeding leg, but the Commander forced him back down and kept him pinned with his foot.

Then the Commander moved to Shane other foot and did the same. Multiple shots and the limb was quickly detached. Then he repeated this for both Shane's arms as well. By the time he was down, Shane now lay in a pool of his own blood, completely limbless.

"Please! Just kill me. I can't take it anymore." He cried, barely able to speak through the almost unbearable pain he was in.

"Was only blood they called for, not your death." Said the Commander, once again kneeling down in front of Shane. "But that's not what I want."

Very slowly he aimed the barrel of his gun right at Shane's forehead, ready to take his final shot.

"Know that as you die, this will be an act of mercy."

He pulled the trigger.

The gun clicked. Shane's eyes suddenly flew open in surprise. The Commander also looked at the gun with surprise. He then turned back to Shane.

"Oh dear, Mr Walters. This really isn't your lucky day at all." He said evilly, his tone of voice clearly giving the indication that was smiling under his helmet.

"What do you mean?" Shane asked, barely able to talk now with the constant pain and blood loss.

"Well you see, I really want you dead, and a bullet to face is very quick. But when I run out of bullets… well, that doesn't' stop me from getting what I want. And unfortunately for you… I am the sort of man who is **not** afraid of getting his hands dirty."

The Commander placed his gun back in its holsters. He then seized Shanes' head in his hands

"When I run out of bullets, first I do this."

He then plunged both his thumbs right into Shane's eyes. More blood began to bleed from the wounds. Shane once again cried out in pain, this time constantly and he attempted to struggle, but was barely able to do anything due to his lack of limbs.

"I revel in your screams…" said the Commander as he continued keeping Shane in palace letting the poor man continuously suffer. "And then finally I smash your skull in, like this!"

Sure enough, he brought both hands together and crushed Shane's head completely. Blood, bone and bits of brain were blown out all over the floor, some even landing on the Commander.

To say that Alpha felt sick at the sight would be an understatement. In fact it was a real surprise none of them had been sick at the sight. Though they did look away as the Commander ended Shane's life. They couldn't' bear to watch anymore.

The Commander slowly rose and brushed some of the blood and bits of Shane's brain off of him uncaringly.

"Clean this mess up, thoroughly." He ordered.

Two Hellspawn soldiers emerged from the darkness and began the process of cleaning up.

Finally, the Commander turned back to Alpha, every single one of them shackled in place next to each other.

For a while he simply paced, waiting for Alpha to speak first. When no speech came however he eventually broke the silence.

"I suppose you expected something else, hmmm?" he asked. "Well, as we all know in our line of work, appearances can be deceiving."

He continued pacing back and forth, his red optic eyes looking at each member of Alpha as he did.

"Bet you never expected this now, did you? One of your own, a full traitor, the leader of a terrorist organization." He said. "Shocked? I would be."

Still Alpha remained silent, the shock of both the reveal and Shane's barbaric death left them pretty much lost for words.

"The legendary Alpha Squad. I've watched you for some time, you know. Taking down the crime lords, defeating some rouge Batarians, ruining my supply raids… You are… a very unusual squad." Said the Commander.

He then looked directly as Austin. He walked right up close and leant down till he was eye level with him.

"The Alliance soldier, so scared of command." He said.

This shocked Austin even more. How the hell had he known that?

The Commander then turned to Kraan.

"The Krogan, the killer of his own kind."

Kraan too had the same reaction.

The Commander then turned to Alaara.

"The Asari, haunted by her past."

Then Dash.

"The little boy, who lied. Constantly trying to keep the madness at bay while also worried whether the author will kill him off or not."

Sandra.

"The comm expert, still searching for daddy."

Leena.

"The Quarian, so afraid of being weak."

He didn't seem to mention anyone else. Instead he simply stood back up again. He then walked up to a nearby table which all of Alpha's weapons laid out. He walked from one side to the other, running his hands curiously over each one.

"The Arkanes must hold you in very high regard to give you all this. All these weapons, all this equipment, all this…"

He suddenly stopped in surprise when he came to Excalibur.

He gently drew the sword from its scabbard and looked at it intriguingly. He then drew another sword that he'd had strapped to his back the whole time. He held the two close in comparison and weighed them.

Austin was almost petrified with shock when he saw how almost identical the Commander's sword looked to his. It was almost virtually the same save for a few noticeable differences.

The blade was slightly longer, as was the handle. It was clear this one was designed solely for two handed use.

Like Excalibur, it too had writing on the blade in Arkadian. This time though it said the same thing on each side. Austin was able to get a good look at the writing which was the sword's name.

Clarent.

"But that's impossible." Austin said, so quietly that only he and Alpha heard it.

The Commander then walked to Austin and raised Excalibur till it pointed at its master's face.

"How did you come by this sword?" he asked, a hit of anger present in his voice.

"What does it matter to you?" Austin replied sternly.

The Commander however raised the blade a bit more till it touched Austin's chin, or rather the bottom of his helmet.

"I'll ask the questions here, boy." He said. "Now, I'll ask you again. Where did you get this?"

"It was given to me." Austin simply replied.

"By Zartrack, no doubt?" The Commander asked.

"How did…"

"…I know?" the Commander finished. "I'd know his craftsmanship anywhere."

Austin took a moment to process this, and then he the realization came to him.

"You were one of his students." He said.

"Yes. Back then, I was his favourite, and none of you were anywhere near the Helldiver I was." Said the Commander.

"And I suppose you're the one who sent the signal?" Sandra finally asked.

"After all these years, and I'm still able to fool the Arkanes. That's one thing I do like about them: predictable." Said the Commander.

"So what's this all about then?" Austin asked. "Why betray the Helldivers?"

"I have my reasons." The Commander replied. "But what should really concern you right now is what I have planned. Though I'm sorry to say you won't be around to see it. Do you know why?"

He gently set Excalibur back down on the table on holstered his own sword.

"Oh, let me guess. You're gonna kill us." Said Dash obviously.

"Kill you? No." said the Commander. "Obviously I'm going to kill you anyway, but not yet. I don't want to rush it. I'm saving it up for something special. And bother asking me, because you know I'm not going to tell you. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprises for the people reading this story either, would we, Dash?"

Dash didn't say anything, but he looked unnerved.

"Well, enjoy your stay here. You'd best get used to the cell, because you're going to be here a long time." Said the Commander, turning to leave. "So nice to have finally met you in person though."

The guards followed as he left and the door was sealed behind him, leaving just Alpha alone.

"Okay, normally I'm not intimidated by guys like that, but that was both messed up and creepy. That guy gave me chills." Said Dash.

"How'd he know all that private stuff about us?" Leena asked.

"Expert at deduction, maybe?" Sandra suggested.

"Right now, it doesn't matter. What we should be worried about is the fact that we're stuck here, and Alexa and Telrass have no idea where we are. Not to mention how long we could be stuck here… inside our own suits." Said Austin.

"And nobody said I had the right to remain silent." Said Dash.

"For crying out loud, Dash. You **have** the right to remain silent. What you lack is the capacity." Said Kraan irritably.

"Good. I'd go mad within the hour."

"Surprised you weren't already."

There must be some way out of here." said Ventra.

"Well, I don't' see any way we can get out of here and we're sealed inside our own suits." Said Austin. "Unless Alaara magically has a key tucked between her breasts… unlikely, we're not getting out of here anytime soon."

"Since when the hell has Alaara had something between her breasts?" said Leena.

"When has she not?" Kraan replied.

"You've been waiting to use that one, haven't you?" said Alaara.

"Wait… something's just occurred to me." Said Hawk. "There are only 8 of us."

Everyone looked around. He was right. They were all here, save one. Troy.

As if almost instantly triggered by Alpha's realization, several shots were suddenly heard from outside the door. Several tense seconds followed before the door slowly creaked open and a guard stepped in.

For a moment, Alpha felt as if there hopes were gone. But then the guard suddenly activated his omni tool and disengaged everyone's shackles, allowing them to fall to the floor.

For a moment, everyone looked at the guard in confusion. But it soon became clear when the guard activated his omni tool again and his form instantly changed into a welcome sight.

"Troy!" Dash cheered.

"How the hell did you find us?" Sandra asked as everyone picked up their gear from the table and worked on rearming themselves.

"I never left. I cloaked the second I saw those laser dots. Just managed to avoid the incoming fire." Troy explained. "There were too many for me to fight, so I decided to just tail them for now. Eventually of course they came here, and now here I am. Just in time in fact."

"A couple of seconds earlier wouldn't have been so bad either." Said Kraan.

"Anyway, think it's time we gave the Commander a little surprise of our own." Said Hawk.

* * *

Thanks to Troy scouting the facility for a bit, it didn't take them long to find the control room. The Commander was stood on an elevated platform in front of several holo screens.

Below him were several Hellspawn officers typing away at various interfaces.

"Sir, we just tracked a fast moving aircraft near our borders. This thing just pulled a J turn clocking in a 12G's. I don't know anything that can do that." One of them said.

"I do." Said the Commander. "They're obviously searching for our prisoners. For now, just keep an eye on them. If they end up coming to close though, shoot 'em down."

"Yes sir."

Rather than sneak up, Alpha decided this time to use the element of surprise. They all immediately leapt from the balcony they were on landed only a few metres behind the Commander.

Almost immediately they all pointed their guns right at the fallen Helldiver. The officers barely had any time to react and instead simply remained still.

The Commander didn't seem surprised at all. In fact, he sounded just as calm as before.

"I'm impressed. I confess myself curious how you escaped, but it doesn't matter now." He said.

"Surrender now, Commander. I won't ask again." Austin ordered.

"You're not going to kill me. You need me alive." Said the Commander, almost like he was reminding Alpha of this.

"We'll kill you if we have to."

"I very much doubt that. Besides, I'm the one in control here."

"Errr, who's got the guns here? Oh yeah, us." Said Dash.

"I think you'd better count again."

Before Alpha even had a chance to process this, hundreds of laser dots once again appeared all over them as hundreds of Hellspawn troopers suddenly appeared out of hiding spots and aimed their guns right at Alpha.

The officers also now drew their own guns and pointed them at Alpha.

"Oh shit tits." Alaara sighed.

"Keep your guns trained on them. If they look like they're even planning to try anything, open fire. Oh, and avoid their chests. That's where their armour's the strongest. Aim for weak spots at the knees and under the arms first then concentrate fire on the necks." The Commander said to his men. He then turned back to Alpha. "Drop your weapons, or they shoot. And don't think these will just bounce off your armour like all rounds do. Each gun is filled with super armour piercing rounds, designed cut through your armour like tissue paper."

Alpha very reluctantly threw all their guns to the ground. Unknown to everyone however, as Dash dropped his pistols he managed to slide a small device into his hand and he pressed a button on it twice.

"Good to see you know how to obey orders." Said the Commander.

"I sincerely hope this isn't all you have, Commander." He said. "We've come too far to fail now after all we went through tracking you down.

"Tracking me down? You are the ones who are outgunned here. I caught you." Said the Commander, a slight hint of confusion in his voice.

"You may be cruel, Commander. But if there's one thing you're not, it's cunning." Said Dash. He then turned to Alpha. "Guys, you might wanna duck."

The very second the last word left his mouth, there was massive explosion. The wall behind them quickly became non-existent as the Hellraiser burst right through it. It flew right over Alpha, heading straight for the Commander. The fallen Helldiver failed to react in time and the tank smashed right into him, sending him flying against the opposite wall and burying him under a pile of rubble.

"What the hell is that thing?!" one of the troopers yelled.

"SHOOT IT!"

The troopers immediately all opened fire on the Hellraiser. Alpha just managed to avoid the shots.

"Get in! Quick!" Dash yelled as the Hellraiser opened up to accept its occupants and driver.

Alpha didn't need to be told twice and they all ran in. Dash also immediately got into the cockpit. As the Hellraiser sealed itself back, Dash immediately accelerated into a power slide and the Hellraiser switched to Battle mode.

Still Hellspawn continued firing. Despite them using super armour piercing however, even they failed to penetrate the Hellraiser's almost indestructible armour.

The tank was soon quick to return fire. The minigun fired first, instantly taking out at least ten troopers in one second. Then the main cannon also fired, one shot alone destroying an entire balcony while the minigun continued firing.

The troopers tried grenades, but those barely even scratched the Hellraiser. The entire room became a complete war zone as the noise of gunfire and explosions became constant.

With each soldier the Hellraiser gunned down, two more seemed to appear. Dash though barely even broke a sweat. For a moment, the Hellraiser ceased fire completely. Thinking that they now had an opening, the troopers only concentrated their fire. Their hope however was short as the Hellraiser's missile barrage fired. Rocket after rocket fired simultaneously, each one hitting its target. Explosion after explosion filled the air and the entire place collapsed.

When the smoke finally cleared, there was virtually nothing left. The entire place had been completely reduced to nothing.

After a few seconds, everyone stepped out of the Hellraiser.

"Wooo! Now that was a blast." Said Dash.

For once, Alpha actually agreed with them. And it wasn't like they'd had to worry about the Commander being killed in all that. He was wearing a Helldiver suit after all. He would've survived that easily.

Sure enough, small pile of rubble parted as the Commander slowly pulled himself out. The sight of Alpha's guns greeted him once again. This time Dash even had the Hellraiser's cannon and minigun aimed right at him. The minigun was even still spinning, ready to fire any second.

"Last chance, Commander." Said Austin.

The Commander looked at Alpha for a moment, considering his options.

Then he slowly unholstered all four of his sub machine guns, dropped them and slowly sank to his knees with his hands on the back of his helmet.

"Very well… I surrender."

* * *

The Commander was almost immediately placed in one of Arkadia's maximum security cells the second Alpha returned to Arkadia.

For now, Alpha had also stood watch until General Zartrack arrived. He'd been quick to react when he heard that this was, or rather had been, one of his former students.

The General soon turned up and Alpha saluted.

"Time to say, hello." Said Zartrack as he motioned for Alpha to stand at ease.

Alpha nodded and the bulkhead door that had earlier stood between them and the Commander opened.

For a long moment, the Commander simply looked at Zartrack. The General stared right back. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that it really was him.

"You're smaller than I remember." The Commander finally said.

"Whereas I barely remember you at all." Said Zartrack.

"Strange. For me it feels just like yesterday." Said the Commander. "Were you surprised?"

"Not particularly. But then you always were an unpredictable one."

"Maybe that's why you liked me so much."

"You flatter yourself."

"Still no remorse, after all these years."

"Regret is unprofessional."

"Regret is unprofessional? I survived that crash, sure. But it wasn't without a price. My helmet became dislodged from my armour and my face ended up in the fires." Said the Commander, sounding almost in pain as he recounted the experience. "It… burned all of my flesh, but I didn't die. Life clung to me like a disease. And then, as I lay there on life support in a hospital, and finally knew why I had survived. I had to look at you one last time… before I killed you."

"Well I hope you're used to disappoint." Said Zartrack. "Commander, you'll be transferred to the Arkadia prison where you'll remain there until the Arkane Council deem you fit to stand trial…"

"Say my name. Say it! My real name. I know you remember it." The Commander interrupted.

"Your name was struck from all records the day you betrayed us, and it'll stay that way. Soon, your future will be as non-existent as your past. We'll never see you again." Said Zartrack.

He and the others turned to leave, but the Commander spoke again.

"Do you know why I'm still in this armour?! Do you know what it does to you?! Fire?"

The Commander then reached up for his helmet. The air locks disengaged and the helmet unlocked from the armour. Very slowly, the Commander lifted it away… then slowly looked up, revealing his face.

Although, to call it face maybe wasn't right at all.

There was barely any flesh at all on the Commander's face and the only small bits that there were looked as though they were dead and rotted, barely clinging to his exposed skull. From the looks of things, the Commander had suffered a combination of first, second, and third and worst of all **fourth** degree burns, which meant that the burns extended through the entire skin into underlying fat, muscle and bone.

His entire skull was completely blackened and charred along with his teeth, there was barely any muscle on his face at all, save for the muscles needed not only for him to operate his jaw, but to actually keep it in place. Other than that, there was no other muscle or flesh, making him incapable of any kind of facial expression. No lips, no eyelids, no ears, no nose, nothing.

But most noticeable of all though were his eyes. He didn't even have any. As a result of losing his eyelids, he had obviously lost them. It was anybody's guess how he could actually see.

It was like staring at an undead zombie. It was hard to believe that he still able to function in this state, let alone stay alive. Most people would prefer death.

The mere sight of it, made all of Alpha feel like they were about to throw up any second.

"Dude, that is messed up." Said Dash.

"Dash, shut up or you're gonna make me sick." Said Sandra nauseously.

"Looch uhon your work… aster." The Commander managed to say.

Due to lack of lips and a mouth, he was unable to pronounce certain letters properly. No doubt his helmet had some kind of translator to fix that.

Zartrack didn't say anything, but he did look like he too was unsettled by this. Eventually he left, and Alpha followed.

The Commander slowly placed his helmet back on and it resealed. He watched them all leave with a sense of satisfaction. The fools. They had no idea what was coming.

* * *

"I want him under surveillance at all times. He does not escape this time." Said Zartrack.

"Yes, General." One of the guards said.

Feeling that Alpha deserved an explanation, he turned back to Alpha.

"His name is Bounty Vlad Rodriguez." He explained. "He used to be one my favourite students, but he made himself a traitor when he started to stealing vital Intel from our allies and selling them to the highest bidder. He attempted to escape on a dropship so I had no choice but to shoot him down. If I'd known he'd survived though…"

"The future is always in motion. You said that yourself." Said Austin.

"True." Said Zartrack.

"One other thing, if I may ask, General." Said Austin. "His sword…"

"I know." Said Zartrack. "You see, I made his sword long before yours. I never felt like it was perfect though, hence the name Clarent. It was never intended for him, but he managed to steal it on the day he betrayed us. I assumed it was destroyed with him. Thus it led to me forging a new one. Yours."

"So in a way, your sword's got an evil twin." Dash joked.

"To be honest, I think that could actually be true." Said Zartrack. He then decided to change the subject. "You've done well, Alpha. The Council are very pleased to finally have this behind us. They've insisted that you have a week's leave for all your hard work."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Austin nodded gratefully.

As Zartrack left, Austin noticed that Alaara was leant against the nearby wall for support. She looked just about ready to faint.

"Are you alright, Sandra?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I'm just… still a bit shocked after seeing his face." Said Sandra.

* * *

A week had passed. Alpha were simply enjoying the last day of their leave while it lasted. After that, it was back to active duty. They were glad though finally be putting Hellspawn behind them and hopefully get back to fighting Batarian slavers.

It was quite nice to be back in Arkadia. Everything was quiet and at peace, especially on a night like tonight.

Supply drops came in practically every hour on Arkadia, so the place was often far too busy. It was the perfect weakness to be exploited. If the security teams had been more thorough with their scanning of one in particular container, they just might have noticed something a little out of place.

As said container was deposited in storage and the workers left, it suddenly began to change. As if it were a transformer of some kind, the container changed into a humanoid figure that immediately hid behind another container out of sight.

Though humanoid in appearance, it was anything but human. All metal from head to toe. Most might even mistake it for a mech, but it wasn't that either. For this thing had something that a robot did not have, a human brain.

The mechanical cyborg wore a metallic trench coat that reach down to the ankles, had clawed feet and a visor on its mask that was completely smooth, plane and expressionless with no eyes or mouth or anything.

The cyborg scanned the area to make sure it was clear before popping out of cover. It kept crouched and low so as to avoid detection as it snuck between various different crates.

It's objective was in sight, but it didn't' see any way to get inside the elevator without being seen. Soon though, right opening came when the cyborg spotted a worker getting in. Seizing the chance, the cyborg leapt onto the ceiling and quickly crawled, just managing to slip inside as the doors closed. Thanks to its clawed feet, the cyborg was able to remain attached to the elevator's ceiling. It was ready to act though should the elevator's occupant spot it.

Eventually, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. While the occupant stepped out first, the cyborg waited for a few seconds, before also crawling out, still attached to the ceiling.

It waited for a while before ultimately making its move. Very gently it first let it's legs go. Then very gently, it let it's lower body down with an almost gymnast like grace. Finally it's hands let go as well and landed very softly on the floor.

Quickly checking to see if the coast was clear, the cyborg walked up to a nearby terminal. It paused to check one last time to be absolutely certain, and then began accessing the computer.

Holo screens immediately flashed to life in front of it. A brief noise startled the cyborg and it raised its right arm as it transformed into a submachine gun. Several long seconds passed but nothing happened. Relaxing, the cyborg went back to work.

Once it had done all that needed to be done, it gently took a cable from the machine. On the back of its head a small compartment slid open, revealing a socket connecting directly to its human brain. Without even a moment's hesitation, the cyborg plunged the cable in.

The computer went static for a moment before then returning to normal. With its brain now directly connected to the computer, the cyborg began hacking into Arkadia's main systems, a constant stream of data flashed all over its visor.

* * *

Alpha's apartment was mostly quiet with everyone simply relaxing. Dash was watching a bit of television, Austin was reading a magazine, Leena was doing a little bit of weightlifting, Kraan appeared to be snacking on a giant turkey, and everyone else was either in another room or doing other things.

Their relaxing however was suddenly interrupted when the lights began to flicker on and off constantly.

"What's going on with the lights?" said Dash.

* * *

The holding cells were under heavy 24/7 guard, especially with the Commander now in them.

The flickering lights were happening on their end too, but their main priority was making sure that the prisoners didn't escape.

Their guessing as to what was up with the lights was suddenly interrupted when they saw a blonde haired woman carrying a large bad walk up to them. She looked like an everyday civilian.

"Visiting hours are ten to four, lady." One of guards said, making it clear that the woman couldn't walk past.

"Your timetable's just been changed." Said the woman.

Before the guards had time to react, she suddenly took out several devices and threw each one at them, each device disabling their suits.

Once she was past the guards, the woman dropped the bag she'd been carrying and unzipped it. Inside lay her armour.

Shedding her disguise, Shadow quickly armed up. She then activated her comms.

"I'm in. Find me his cell."

* * *

The hack continued. The cyborg almost had access. At the same time, it received the call from Shadow. While still hacking into the Helldiver's systems, the cyborg simultaneously accessed the prison logs. The cell was quickly located, and the information was sent.

"This is Alpha Squad, what's going on?" Austin said into his comm.

The only reply he got was static save for a small fraction that he was able to understand.

" _Been infected… Intruder… The whole system's been compromised!"_

Then suddenly the lights went out completely. Every screen also started projecting a small sentence.

TROJAN: SUPERIOR. HELLDIVERS… INFERIOR.

"Oh shit. Shit! Shit! Shit!" Leena sword almost in panic. "We've been hacked."

* * *

Several guard almost immediately arrived at the entrance to the prisons. They were quick to remove the suit jammers from the others and got them back on their feet.

"Shoot anything that walks through that door." One of them said as the guards readied their weapons. "Anything."

* * *

Shadow slowly walked up to the cell holding the Commander. He was chained in placed and his cell was fitted EMPs set to go off if he so much as scratched the cell's glass.

With the power down however and the cyborg's hack having prevented backups system from coming online however, there was little keeping him cooped up now.

All Shadow had to do was break the shackles attached to the chains holding him place, and she did just that.

The Commander forcefully pulled them all. He even threw one at the glass, smashing it to pieces. As he walked out, he was quick to take notice of the Helldiver Slayer in front of him.

"Shadow. Never a doubt." He said. He would've smiled if he could.

Shadow slowly dropped to one knee and bowed her head.

"Master." She said with respect.

"Rise, my friend."

Shadow did so and immediately handed her master back his weapons which he immediately holstered.

* * *

The guards kept a constant eye on the doors, ready to fire the very second they spotted something walk through. They were both so focused and nervous about what would happen next that they didn't' notice the door behind them open and several smoke grenades rolled out.

From the other side of door, the sound of an explosion could be heard along with brief gunfire before it all went silent.

"I see you didn't come alone." Said the Commander.

"He was most insistent." Said Shadow.

The two walked through the door as the smoke cleared. Dead Helldiver littered the floor, along with a few missing some armour pieces. As another dead Helldiver fell, a tall and simply massive muscular man walked out of the smoke. He wore a basic suit of armour, was nearly 2.5 metres tall, wore a skull like helmet and also a few basic weapons strapped to him.

"You really would think they'd have better security in this place." He said.

"Hades. Good to see you, old friend." Said the Commander.

"Same to you, boss." Said Hades, bowing his head in respect.

As they talked, they failed to notice one Helldiver still barely alive. He manged to raise his gun, but before he could fire, a foot suddenly stood on his arm and a guns hot him in the head.

Everyone looked in the direction of the shot.

There stood the cyborg.

"And you brought Trojan as well. Excellent." Said the Commander proudly.

"Well, I couldn't' have possibly pulled this off without her." Said Shadow.

Trojan remained silent as her right arm sub machine shifted back into a normal arm. At the same time she activated her omni tool. It replayed a recording of what had been going through the Helldiver's comms before her virus shut them down. At the same time, her visor showed the soundwave bar of the recording as it played.

" _The whole system's been compromised!"_

"Good work, Trojan. Now… time for me to an honour a promise to an old friend." Said the Commander.

He lead, the others followed.

The Commander noticed that Hades seemed to be chuckling a bit.

"Is there something amusing, Hades?" the Commander asked.

"Strange actually." Hades replied. "I've broken out of eight prisons in my time, but this is the first one I've broken into."

* * *

Zartrack had been in a meeting with the council when the system has suddenly bene hacked. His immediate first priority had been to guard to the council.

It was barely a minute later when the doors at the far end suddenly burst open and Hellspawn walked in. The very second, Zartrack spotted his former student he immediately opened fire. The rest of the Helldivers in the council chambers soon followed. The Council themselves quickly dove for cover.

Hades, Shadow and Trojan all went for cover as well, but the Commander simply stood there.

Every single shot from the Helldivers that hit him simply bounced harmlessly of his armour. Helldiver ammo was standard issue, and so was never designed to pierce their own armour. But the Commander had super Armor piercing. Every shot he made, killed a Helldiver instantly.

"Our weapons aren't having any effect. The rounds are just bouncing off his armour." One of them yelled.

A door on the far side suddenly opened and none other than Alpha joined the fight. They too had to dive for cover, but the extra concentrated fire did force Hades, Trojan and Shadow to stay in cover more.

"This isn't a simple escape attempt. The Commander's been planning this." Said Austin, blind firing as he ducked to avoid some shots from the Commander.

The gunfire continued for some time before Austin suddenly had an idea. He got Alpha's attention and then pointed to the fire extinguishers.

Getting what Austin had in mind, they all shot the fire extinguishers, each one shooting clouds of gas all over the place. Within just a few seconds, it cast a thick cloud between them and Hellspawn.

"Get the council out! Get everyone out, now!" Zartrack ordered.

Completely blind, and knowing now he had no chance, the Commander was forced to abort.

"Fall back! We're leaving." He ordered in frustration.

The rest of Hellspawn obeyed and retreated with their Commander.

"General, you should look after the Council." Austin advised. "We'll deal with him."

* * *

A dropship awaited them on the landing platform. It didn't matter too much that plan B had failed. They'd have another chance soon enough.

As they were about to reach it however, a rocket suddenly flew right past them and destroyed the dropship

"Leaving so soon, Commander?"

The Commander and everyone else turned to see all of Alpha.

"Helldivers. So predictable." Said Shadow.

"Last chance, Rodriguez. Surrender, or this time we will kill you." Said Sandra.

"Numbers aren't in your favour either. Because there's 9 of us, and only 3 of you." Said Dash.

"Bring more men, and maybe it'll be a fair fight." Said the Commander. "Take them."

Hades and Shadow charged while the Commander remained behind.

Austin of course instantly went for Shadow first who immediately drew both her swords and locked blades with the Helldiver.

"So you're The Commander's pet now, Shadow?" said Austin.

"His money's green, and as a bonus, I get to kill you." Said Shadow. "So you know my name now? Good. At least you can die knowing exactly who killed you."

Austin was quickly joined by Alaara and Ventra who helped keep Shadow on her toes a bit more at least.

Sandra meanwhile went after the Commander directly. It was at the very last minute when he drew his sword. Sandra found his style very familiar indeed. She and Austin had sparred together many times, during which they'd often grown used to each other's fighting styles. The Commander was very similar. Definitely a huge difference however was that he used his sword two handed compared to Austin's one handed style.

He seemed to be on the defensive side for now. With each attack she did, he simply blocked but did not attempt to riposte. Sandra began to get a little annoyed by this. He was clearly toying with her. Most likely he felt she wasn't' worth the effort. Well she'd show him.

Dash meanwhile had gone directly after Hades.

One would've thought that'd be suicide, someone of his somewhat small size against someone so huge. But Dash was certain of one thing, he was fast and agile, whereas Hades would be slow. Someone that, yes he'd be strong, but there's no way he'd be able to move as fast as Dash could.

"Are you ready to die, small one?" Hades asked challengingly.

"I might be. If I have to keep looking at that shit stain you call a face." Dash replied.

He immediately drew both pistols and fired. All rounds imply bounced off of Hades' head until both guns clicked.

Dash looked at his guns with surprise.

"Okay… that usually works." He said.

"And so does this!"

Hades swung a punch, but Dash managed to avoid it.

Using both his speed, and the time he had until Hades pulled his arm back, Dash immediately reloaded and fired again. Once again however, the rounds simply bounced off. Hades was quick to respond to this and swung his arm to the side. Dash failed to respond in time and was hit so hard he went flying for at least two metres. It was a wonder he managed to stop before he fell off the platform.

Hades tried to stomp on him several times, but the scout managed to roll out of the way. He attempted to aim, but Hades quickly grabbed the gun with one hand and punched him with the other, at the same time tearing the gun out of Dash's hands and literally crushing it.

"That was my favourite gun!" Dash yelled.

Hades though simply responded by pulling Dash back up onto his feet and then kicking him so hard he was once again sent flying, this time into the wreckage of the dropship.

Sandra upped the speed and ferocity of her attacks, her arm almost becoming her blur with each strike. Finally, she managed to get an opening and thrust. It didn't impale as she intended, but her attack did manage to scar the Commander's helmet.

The Commander was quick to respond to this by finally attacking. The two locked blades with one another, one opponent trying to overpower the other.

"You fight well. Were you not a Helldiver, I'd ask you to join me." Said the Commander, impressed by what he had seen.

"Never!" Sandra yelled.

She attempted to force the Commander, but he surprised her by instead pushing back with an almost frightening amount of force. He pushed both her Sais to the side and then suddenly punched her with such force that it literally knocked her helmet right off. Sandra fell to the floor, dazed and her vision blurred. The Commander struck both her Sais with his sword, knocking them out of her hands.

Sandra could only see the blurry silhouette of the Commander as he raised his blade to finish her. Right as he did however, he hesitated for a moment. Sandra couldn't tell for certain, but for a moment it looked as though the Commander might be lowering his blade.

Before anything more could happen however, Kraan suddenly charged right into the Commander. He tackled the Commander to the floor and attempted to punch him.

The Commander however turned the tables on him by blocking Kraan's fist and then kicking him so hard, Kraan actually though he was flying for a moment before he landed back on the ground again.

The force of kick had come as such a surprise to Kraan he was left temporarily dazed. Unlike Sandra however, he shock it off quicker and immediately tried to get. Before he could however, the Commander' foot suddenly pinned him to the ground as the fallen Helldiver stood over him.

"You think you're strong, Krogan?" he said.

With his free hand, he then grabbed Kraan by the neck and to the Krogan's utter horror hauled him right up off the ground. He was left hanging in the air, the Commander's hand gripping what it could his throat. Kraan was almost paralysed with fear. How was this possible? A human Helldiver could barely lift a normal Krogan in this way, yet the Commander was lifting him, who was twice as strong as a normal Krogan, and also heavier, without any effort at all.

Austin too glanced this as Shadow kicked him back for a second. He too was shocked.

"Oh my god!"

"You know nothing of true strength." Said the Commander with disgust.

"What… are you?!" Kraan choked.

"I'm complicated." The Commander simply replied.

He then threw Kraan to the ground with such force that it not only crated a small crater, but it knocked the air right out of the Krogan's lungs.

Disoriented, Kraan only noticed the Commander' blade come down too late.

Before it could hit him however, there was loud clang of metal against metal. A second blade had suddenly blocked the Commander's. None other than Austin had just saved Kraan's life.

"Don't hit my friends." He said.

He then pushed his blade upwards which made the Commander skid back a bit. As he did, Austin helped Kraan up.

"Help the others. I'll take care of him." He said.

Kraan simply nodded and immediately went after Hades.

Speaking of which, the muscled giant pulled Dash out of the wreckage and held him up by the neck.

"Time to die, boy."

Before he could deliver the killing blow however, Kraan suddenly charged into him. Unlike the Commander, this time Kraan was successful and he manged to land a few punches before Hades eventually kicked him off.

Kraan was somewhat surprised when Hades drew himself up to his full height. Almost any Krogan would definitely find this human intimidating.

"You're big. I've fought bigger." He said.

He then delivered an incredibly hard head-butt. TO his surprise however, Hades actually did the same. The two opponent's heads came together with a loud clang. Kraan was just as shocked as before when Hades to almost absorb the head-butt completely.

"Oh crap." He said in worry.

"Not like me you haven't." said Hades.

The giant then brought his knee right up into Kraan's face, knocking the Krogan back and against one of the landing's platforms lights.

Leena meanwhile was "attempting" to fight Trojan. However she was not faring well at all. The cyborg was smaller, faster, impossibly more agile and stronger than her. Every attack Trojan either countered or blocked. Leena was beginning to doubt if Trojan really was a cyborg, because she sure as hell didn't act like one. A quick scan though proved it to her. Trojan was 99% machine, save for something in her head, her brain. Apparat from that though, Trojan was completely cybernetic which in this gave her a huge advantage over the muscular Quarian.

Rather shockingly, when Leena attempt another attack, Trojan manged to get hold of the chest piece on her armour and literally ripped it clean off. She then hit Leena in the chest so hard that the Quarian felt a sharp pain as her heart temporarily stopped.

She fell to her knees clutching her chest as her heart mercifully restarted. The shear shock of it however combined with her somewhat weakened state left her unable to continue fighting.

Right as Trojan readied to deliver the killing blow however, Troy suddenly uncloaked and hit Trojan really hard over the head with the bow staff that had once belonged to Shadow.

The cyborg's attention as immediately focused on him.

"Help Kraan. I got this." Said Troy.

Leena nodded and ran over to help Kraan.

Right as Hades was about to punch Kraan while he was down, Leena suddenly punched him first, causing him to stagger back. As the giant regained his senses, Lean helped Kraan up.

"A Krogan and a Quarian. This is gonna be fun." Said Hades.

Trojan attempted to fire at Troy, but the spy managed to block each shot with his staff. Despite only having it for a short while, he'd become quite good with it.

When he attempted another attack however, Trojan literally pulled the staff out of his hands and threw it away. She then drew a rather large combat knife from behind her back and attacked. Troy barely managed to keep up with the cyborg's speed and ferocity.

As Trojan attempted a two handed lunge, Troy counted it. As he did however, Trojan suddenly flipped right over him, managing a slight scratch on him in the process before landing back on her feet.

Troy looked at her in surprise. He'd seen that move before, but by someone else. Someone he had not seen for a very long time. Someone he'd been very close to…

"Only one person in the entire galaxy knows that move…" he said in disbelief. "Sonya? Is that you?"

Trojan didn't respond and simply looked at him, her head tilting slightly.

"You won't talk." Troy said, puzzled. "Or… you can't talk."

" _Can't talk."_ Trojan played back.

"What have you done to yourself?!"

Austin and the Commander simply circled one another, neither attacking just yet.

"You know, I meant what I said before. That really is a fine sword. But I wonder… do you know how to use it?" the Commander asked.

He barely gave Austin any time to respond before attacking. Both opponents stuck to their preferred style. The Commander, two handed and Austin one handed.

Austin immediately recognized Zartrack's fighting style in the Commander. Seemed that although he was a former Helldiver, a lot of the training he'd received had sunk in and was still present.

The Commander naturally attacked first, forcing Austin to defend. Austin attempted to push back on one particular attack, but the Commander quickly exploited this and tripped him up. He attempted to slash at Austin while he was down, but the Helldiver managed to avoid the strike and then delivered a really sharp kick to the Commander's helmet, causing him to stagger back with an angry grunt.

Austin quickly got back onto his feet and readied for another fight. The Commander also quickly recovered, and he looked angry now, so to speak.

Now Austin attacked first, starting off with a spin lunge. Naturally though, the Commander managed to block each strike. Sparks flew from both swords as Excalibur clashed with its twin.

The two ended up in another blade lock and this time Austin made the first move. He managed to trip the Commander, but unlike him, the fallen Helldiver managed to force his blade to one side and then grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him up just as he had Kraan earlier. The Commander gave a slight chuckle and then threw Austin to the floor.

Austin blocked several more attacks before getting a third blade lock. This time, he pushed harder. For a moment, he managed to push the Commander back a bit, but just when it looked like he had the advantage, the Commander then pushed back with full force. He forced Excalibur to one side and then head-butted Austin so hard that he staggered back.

Austin just managed to recover in time as the Commander swung at him again several times. He avoided each one and managed to land a punch on the Commander, but at the Commander quickly recovered from it and spun. Austin failed to react in time and Clarent cut rather deep into his side, drawing blood.

The Helldiver fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding side.

The Commander slowly walked up to him and raised his sword.

"You just ran out of time." Said Austin.

Two Hellhounds suddenly hovered over the landing platform.

"STAND DOWN! REPEAT: STAND DOWN!"

The Commander though remained unfazed by this and immediately opened fire. The hellhounds quickly returned fire, but like before their rounds had no effect on the Commander's armour.

"Sir, this platform's getting too hot." Said Hades, managing to avoid a few stray rounds.

A rocket was suddenly fired and it hit one of the hellhounds, causing it to collide with the other.

Another dropship then rose up into view, this one belonging to Hellspawn. The Commander, Shadow, Trojan and Hades all got in.

"You got off easy." Said Hades.

Austin attempted to throw another tracer, but Shadow immediately shot it.

"Not this time, Shepard."

The dropship sped off into the sky, soon vanishing from sight.

* * *

Having been locked up for so long, the Commander had missed the red and fiery atmosphere of the planet inferno in the element cluster. That was where Hellspawn's main base was.

The volcanic planet was ideal not only for mining the natural resources that could be found in the lava, but the intense geological activity created natural scanning interference which was perfect for keeping prying eyes away and preventing anyone from discovering the fortress.

Built one the side of a mountain and overlooking both a massive lava river and the vast view of the rest of the volcanic land, the facility was simply massive. Almost the size of a small city, it served as a factory, mining facility, and fortress all in one. Most referred to it as fortress though as it made them feel safer, especially considering the dangerous environment outside.

The Commander, Hades, Shadow and Trojan all walked onto a platform that began slowly rising up, granting them a better view of the massive factory facilities in front of them.

"Ah, there's no place like fortress." said Shadow relaxingly as the platform finished rising.

"All we've been missing is our Commander." Said Hades. "Good to have you back, boss."

"Ah! You're back, sir." Said voice.

A man dressed in a business suit soon joined them. Hellspawn's weapons manufacturer, Thoron Arma. He'd come a long way from being interrogated by crime lords all those years ago.

"Someone took his time." Said the Commander.

"Not easy to sneak out of a board of directors meeting. Price you pay for being successful." Said Thornton.

"Just don't forget who made you so." The Commander reminded him.

"Or the rock you crawled out from." Shadow added.

"Shadow. Well, it's good to know we're not running low on crazy." Said Thornton. "Still all ten fingers?"

Shadow put up both her hands before shortly giving Thornton the finger. He simply chuckled.

"I trust all has gone as instructed during my absence?" the Commander asked.

"Indeed, sir. We've even managed to exceed those expectations." Said another voice this time female. "My apologies for being late."

A scientist, German judging by her accent with red hair and wearing quite a bit of tech on her. Elsa Gunther, Hellspawn's main scientist and tech expert.

"You always have been a busy woman, Elsa. I don't blame you." Said the Commander.

Elsa simply smiled and bowed her head in respect.

"I'm sorry to hear your assassination of General Zartrack failed, but at least you made it back to us." She said.

"I will have plenty more chances in the future. Now that the Helldivers know of us, things are sure to change. We have long prepared for this, we have grown stronger, while they rested in their cradle of power, believing their people were safe and protected." Said the Commander.

As he spoke, he noticed Trojan seemed to be giving the impression she was trouble by something.

"You seem troubled, Trojan. Is something the matter?" he asked.

" _Sonya? Is that you? What have you done to yourself?!"_ Trojan's recorded voice repeated.

"Wait, I know that voice." Said the Commander in surprise. "So, our old friend Troy is with them as well. Seems we're all running into old friends these days."

"Some more than others. I'm starting to grow tired of Shepard constantly evading me. Now I not only want to kill him, but I'd very much love to also tear that suit from his body." Shadow growled.

"And you will, my apprentice. In time." Said the Commander.

He then spoke louder so that he addressed all of Hellspawn.

"WE ARE AN ARMY WITHOUT A NATION, AND THEY WILL LEARN TO FEAR US. ALL OF THEM!"

Everyone who heard cheered.

"But first, I think it is time we set the record straight once and for all. It is time we showed the galaxy, that unlike my worthless decoy, we mean business." Said the Commander. "Prep the set. Let's make television."

* * *

The Commander's quarters were a large and darkly lit chamber. Often he had some kind of smoke in the air as well in order to add to the atmosphere. Since so many people would be in here this time however, he'd turned it off. When turned away, the throne looked out of the massive window to show the vast volcanic planes of Inferno along with the view down of the volcano the fortress was situated over.

"You know the drill, everyone. No talking and no eye contact unless you want to get shot in the face." Hades ordered to everyone.

Within just a few seconds, the large doors lowly creaked open, the Commander walked in, followed closely by his elite guard.

They were clearly not human. Machines of some kind with disk like heads, clad in dark red robes and wielding staffs of some kind.

No one made a sound, nor dared look at the Commander as he walked past them and slowly ascended the steps until he reached his throne. He turned and slowly sat down. His guards also turned and stood to attention, remaining so still one would almost think they were statues.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

The Arkane council were already in talks after the incident that had occurred. The security was going to be doubled and also tightened after what had happened. The fact that a cyborg, a bounty hunter, and a muscular giant had managed to get in and break one of their prisoners out was disgraceful.

Their talks were interrupted however when the entire room went black and large holo image of Hellspawn's symbol was projected in front of them.

It appeared to be in every single channel. Those in charge of communications attempted to make adjustments, but they did not.

"General, I think you should see this."

Zartrack recognized the symbol almost immediately.

"Oh no. Not again. Is Alpha getting this?" Zartrack asked.

* * *

Alpha planned to head back out into space on the Endeavour eventually, but after their battle they needed rest and recovery. So for now, they were once again back in their apartment, most of them working on fixing some of their armour, or treating any cuts or bruises.

"Shepard."

Austin turned and saw Hellspawn's symbol on all their screens.

"Where's it coming from?" he immediately asked.

"I don't know. Unlike the last one, I can't pinpoint it at all. Every time I try it switches. He's also broadcasting this to everyone. The entire galaxy is seeing this." Sandra replied.

The hologram then flashed several times, each flash emitting some static screams of some kind before it changed completely to show the Commander, sat calmly on his throne.

" _Good morning. To those of you who do not yet know me, allow me to introduce myself. I use the name Commander, and I am the founder of Hellspawn: an organization that you have been led to believe is nothing more than a smokescreen. Well, I can tell you all now that Hellspawn is very real, as am I."_ he said.

The Commander then gently rose from his throne and stood up.

" _Now I can imagine what you are all thinking right now. You had no reason to take the decoy seriously. Why should this one be any different? And so, I demonstrate my point."_

He motioned to someone off screen and two of his guards brought someone forward. They had a Helldiver restrained with the use of their staffs. He was badly beaten and was missing loads of pieces of his armour, including his helmet.

The guards then stepped back out of shot, leaving just the holograms of the Helldiver and the Commander, who slowly drew one of his guns and knelt down next to the Helldiver.

" _Tell them your name, Son."_ He said.

" _Yeah? Screw you!"_ The Helldiver spat back.

" _Oh, this one still has some fight left in him. Good, that'll make this all the more satisfying for me."_ Said the Commander, slowly standing up and circling the Helldiver.

" _Meet Sergeant Joshua Trankard. A good strong name, a good strong job. Feel free to check your records if you wish, but he does work for you, and I'm sure he's a really good guy… and I'm going to shoot him in the head, live in front of all of you in 30 seconds."_

The Commander calmly checked his gun and made sure that his audience was aware it was loaded.

" _Some people call me a terrorist… I consider myself a teacher."_ He said. _"Lesson number 1… is obedience."_

He then shot Joshua right in the leg, causing his to scream in agony.

" _Lesson number 2, show respect for your elders."_

Then the Commander shot the other leg, causing Joshua to fall to the ground.

" _And Lesson number 3. Heroes… there is no such thing."_

To everyone's horror, the Commander then shot him right in the back of the head, his super armour piercing round blowing the poor man's head completely apart.

A long silence followed while the Commander allowed his audience to take it all in before he finally spoke again.

" _I imagine by now that you are all wonder what is the point of all this? What do I really want? Do you hope that you can reason with me? You won't be able to reason with me, I can tell you that. What do I want? It's perfectly simple. The Helldivers, bruised, battered, beaten, broken, dead! Wiped from the face of the galaxy. And when I am done, I will turn my attention to the parasites who think this galaxy is there's… aliens. As of now, for all you non humans, this galaxy is no longer yours, and it is no longer safe for you. You can try and hide or fight, but in the end it will amount to nothing. My army in infinite. You will eventually be killed, or worse, and nothing will have changed."_ He said. _"My attentions are of course focused on the Helldivers first. They will be the first to suffer my wrath. And as for Alpha Squad, since I know you are no doubt watching this as well, I'm going to offer you a choice. Do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death? Either way, if we cross paths again… I will burn you. I will burn the hearts out of you. And I assure you, I'm a man of my word."_

Alpha simply cast looks at each other. It would take more than an idle threat to scare them, but even so…

" _Let this be a warning to all of you, to the Arkanes, to the Helldivers, and to the entire galaxy. As of now, Hellspawn is at war with the Helldivers."_ The Commander continued. _"You know who I am. You don't know where I am…"_

The hologram then flashed and zoomed in on just the Commander's helmet.

" _And you'll never see me coming."_

* * *

**I'll admit the main fight was a little bit rushed, but I'm still satisfied with this chapter.**

**Hope you enjoyed, and aren't frozen with fear. ;)**

**Looking forward tos eeing what you say about this one. See you in the next one! :)**


	17. Chapter 17, The Cleanser

**I am so so sorry about the long wait. I jsut go so distract and so stuck on the chapter.**

**Anyway, I'm back at last and I finally mangaed to get this done.**

**Rushed here and there I'll admit, but I'ms till happy with ti overall. Introduces a friendly face, you get the sex scene you've been waiting for (told you I'd include it) and even a surprise ending.**

**Hope this was worth the wait!**

**Oh and just one other minor note here. I've finally updated my stories on Adultfanfiction as well, in case anyone's interested.**

* * *

**YEAR 5, First Blood**

**2177: 5 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**10 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"It was only a year after Hellspawn revealed themselves that the first attack came. But it was not in the way we expected. This was a new weapon, one that had the potential to wipe us all out without a single shot being fired…_

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**The Cleanser**

3:02 in the morning.

Normally, everyone was still in bed at this hour. Tonight however it was a little different. Having just gotten up after only a few hours' sleep, Sandra had walked out of her room, onto the balcony in Alpha's apartment, and gently knocked on Alaara's door.

It slowly opened, and there stood Alaara in the doorway. The two immediately hugged each other and kissed. It had only been yesterday that they'd last been together intimately, but it felt like far longer to them. There were times when they did wish they didn't have to hide their relationship from everyone else, but at the same time they knew why it was necessary. They just didn't want to deal with telling everyone yet. When the time was right though…

"Guys?"

The very second they heard that, the two immediately separated and attempted to act as though nothing had happened. They even put some distance between each other just as the lights came on. It was Dash who had obviously woken up a bit earlier.

"What time is it?" he yawned.

"Errr, 9." Sandra said very quickly.

"But it's dark out." Said Dash, looking out of the window and noticing the night sky outside.

"That's because you always sleep till noon, silly. This is what 9 looks like." Alaara said off the top of her head.

They wouldn't have thought that Dash would actually believe that, but it was the best they could think of. Rather to their surprise however, it worked.

"I guess I'll get washed up then." Said Dash as he went into the bathroom. "Watch that sunrise."

The two simply smiled as he left. Once the bathroom door was shut, they both sighed in frustration.

"I'm really getting tired of sneaking around all the time." Said Sandra.

"I know. Me too." Alaara agreed. Then she had an idea. "Hey, I know. What if we went away for the whole weekend? We'd have no interruptions… and we could be naked the entire time."

"All weekend? That's a whole lot of naked." Sandra smiled.

"Yeah. We have shore leave coming up anyway, so we can both just make some excuse that we can't spend it with the others. I'm sure they won't mind." Said Sandra.

"You, my love, are a genius." Said Sandra as she gave her bondmate a kiss

"Anyway, shall we?" Alaara suggested as opened her door invitingly.

"Wait, what about Dash?"

Alaara though simply used her bitoics to open the bathroom door, revealing that Dash had fallen asleep while brushing his teeth. They were clear.

* * *

The weekend passed. Everyone else had mostly just enjoyed the time off and had stayed at the apartment. Dash was currently in the living room when the door opened and Sandra arrived back. In order to avoid any suspicion, she and Alaara had made sure to both leave and arrive separately.

"Hey, you're back." The Scout greeted.

"Just arrived." Said Sandra. She felt exhausted, and not just from the trip. That whole weekend had been a test for her.

"So how was your weekend?" Dash asked.

"Oh, it was terrible. Pretty much everything went wrong for me." Sandra acted. In truth, it had been completely the opposite. In fact, she was doing her best not to smile too much from the memories or else someone would notice.

"So it was a total bust?" Dash asked sympathetically.

"Not totally. I got to visit a very nice spa place where they do the best massages." Said Sandra.

As the comm expert disappeared into her room to unpack, Alaara then walked through the door as well.

"I'm back, bitches!" She said cheerily.

"Hey, Alaara." Dash smiled.

"Glad to see you didn't tear down the place while I was away." Said Alaara.

"How was your weekend?"

"Fine. Nice and relaxing."

"Speaking of which, that hotel you stayed at called. Said someone left some shampoo in your room." Said Dash.

Alaara immediately froze. If Dash had found out…

" _Oh no!"_

"Errrrrrrrr, yes that was mine." she quickly said.

Now that she thought about it, that was the worst possible thing she could've said. Dash was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

"You don't have hair though." said Dash puzzlingly. "I figured that you hooked up with some girl and **she** left it there."

"Yes, that was what I meant." Said Alaara.

She was able to relax a bit though. It was clear now that Dash didn't know the details. If he did, he would definitely have said so.

"So, is she pretty?" Dash asked.

"Oh yeah. In fact, I dare say she's probably even the best I've ever had." Said Alaara.

Technically that was true since she'd been referring to Sandra anonymously, and she was indeed by far the best she'd ever had.

* * *

The later afternoon of the day was a just clam with Alpha enjoying some more of their shore leave.

"Hey, Alaara. Heard you found this very nice spa while you were away." Said Alexa.

"Yeah. You should try it. They do the best massages." Sandra smiled.

Alaara cast a nervous look at Dash.

He had that look someone often got when they thought they'd heard something familiar. After a few moments however, he simply shrugged.

" _That was close."_

Sandra was searching through one of her bags. After a quite a few seconds, she started to rummage around more frantically.

"Oh please tell me I didn't… Damn!" she cursed. "Alexa, could I borrow some shampoo from you, I think I lost mine."

"Yeah, sure."

Dash's face suddenly lit up with shock. His mouth fell open and he pointed at Sandra, almost completely lost for words.

" _Oh here we go!"_ Alaara sighed in her head.

"Dash, can I talk to you for a second?!

The Asari immediately pulled Dash onto his head and into one of the rooms. Sandra sensing something was up, quickly followed, leaving everyone else a little bewildered at what that had been all about.

* * *

Alaara tackled Dash onto the bed and covered his mouth until Sandra had shut the door behind her and locked it. Finally, she gently moved her moth off.

"Yes, It's true." She said.

Dash immediately sat up, still in shock.

"YOU?! AND YOU?!" he said, pointing at the two.

"Yes, but you cannot tell anyone. No one knows." Said Sandra.

"But… how… when?" Dash asked.

"It happened just before we were about to take on those Batarians." Alaara explained.

"THAT LONG AGO?!" Dash said loudly.

"Shoosh! Look, the reason we didn't tell anyone was because we didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Said Alaara.

"But it is a big deal!" said Dash. "I have to tell someone…"

He tried to get up, but they both stopped him and pushed him back down onto the bed.

"No!" said Sandra. "Please, just not yet. We're going to tell everyone eventually, but we just don't want to yet. Please, Dash?"

There was a long silence before Dash eventually spoke.

"Oh alright!" he finally said. "Can I ask though? Are you two just doing it, or…"

Both Alaara and Sandra smiled at each other and immediately kissed one another. Dash's eyes went wide in surprise. He'd assumed it'd just been sex for them, but this kiss… He'd seen enough television series and movies to know a romantic kiss when he saw one.

"Does that answer your question?" Sandra smiled once she and Alaara had finally stopped kissing.

"You two are really…"

"Yep. Bond mates and everything." said Alaara proudly.

"Wow!" Dash smiled. "Man, this is unbelievable."

He realized however that sounded a bit like he didn't approve of this, so he quickly corrected himself.

"I mean, it's great that you two are together, but…"

"I know." Sandra smiled.

* * *

Surprisingly, Dash kept his promise. Alaara and Sandra woke up the next day expecting everyone to be talking about them, and yet nothing of the sort. In fact a different kind of surprise happened. Unfortunately though, it still wasn't the nice kind.

For some reason, Alaara woke up in the morning with a rather bad cough. It was completely unexpected considering that she'd felt completely fine yesterday and hadn't had any indication that she might be getting a cough.

It didn't worry her too much though and she kept saying that it was probably just a cold or something that she might have caught by accident while she was away. That still didn't stop everyone from being concerned though. By the end of day in fact, she seemed to be coughing even more.

"Are you alright, Alaara?" Austin asked concernedly. "You've been coughing all day, and I fear you sound even worse than you did this morning."

"Just a cough, I'm sure it'll be fine." Alaara croaked, pausing again to cough rather loudly.

"If you're sure…"

Admittedly, she wasn't sure. Despite that she'd been drinking so much fluid and orange juice today, if anything the cough had got even worse since this morning. Her throat was in so much pain that it felt like with every cough her throat was on fire.

After downing yet another whole carton of orange juice, the Asari sat down in the chair next to Austin who was currently sharpening his sword. She was forced to make another rather loud and painful cough as she sat down.

It was when she stopped that Austin stopped sharpening his sword and seemed to stare at Alaara. The Asari noticed this.

"What?"

"Alaara, what's that on your hand?" Austin asked worriedly.

Alaara looked down at where Austin was.

"What's what on my…"

She immediately froze and her eyes went wide open when she saw her hand. It was stained with purple… purple blood. More specifically… her blood…

"Oh no!"

* * *

Sandra was currently in the middle of adding new symbol to her armour when Austin suddenly burst in.

"We need to get to a medical centre. Quickly!" he said urgently.

"Why? What's wrong?" Sandra asked.

"It's Alaara. She's coughing blood."

Sandra almost immediately bolted right past Austin and out of the room, much to the Commander's surprise.

* * *

Alaara's condition only got worse by the time they managed to get her Arkadia's main hospital. She was coughing blood almost constantly now, and was also starting to have breathing problems.

They were met by a grey haired woman when they arrived who immediately had them bring Alaara in for examination.

"So do you know what's wrong with her?" Sandra asked worriedly.

"I have a feeling I do, but it's best we let the Professor Paeoniis have a look at her."

" **The** Professor Paeoniis?!" Austin asked in surprise.

"Who's he?" Dash asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Don't tell me you don't know who Katrax Paeoniis is!" Austin said in disbelief.

"I'm afraid I don't."

"He's only one the 7 Arkanes who created the Helldivers, and one of the greatest medical minds in the galaxy." Said Sandra.

"I thought he was a scientist." Said Alexa.

"He is, but he's also a medical doctor. Knows more about obscure diseases than anyone in this, or probably any galaxy." Said Austin.

At that moment, the doors opened and a rather tall and slender Arkane walked in. He wore a black lab coat with a few occasional white patches here and there similar to outfit the doctor had as well.

He wore some kind of goggles on his head, one of which had a magnifier one eye and appeared to also be wearing what looked like some kind respirator over his mouth and nose.

According to many of the stories, Paeoniis had been born with some health complications. He'd been born premature, he'd only had one arm and also began to suffer breathing problems in his adult years. He'd fixed this by permanently wearing a respirator to breath properly.

On the subject of the arm, he currently didn't have any at all. In the place of arms, where two very long cybernetic arms. Because of his genius, he'd been the one that had helped the Arkanes discover fully functional cybernetic limbs. In doing so, he'd been able to give himself one to compensate for the arm he never had.

The story behind his other one however, was different. Very long ago, Arkadians had been suffering from a rather bad disease. Paeoniis had sworn to find a cure for it. In his attempts however, his normal arm had been exposed to the disease while experimenting. To stop the disease from spreading and killing him, he'd forced to amputate it and so had replaced it with another cybernetic. On the plus side however, he'd been able to run further tests on his own arm which had allowed him to make tremendous advances. Due also to the fact that since the disease in his arm was new hadn't had a chance to gestate very long, unlike other samples he'd had to work from, it had eventually led to him finding a cure way sooner than expected.

"Another one?" he asked as he slowly walked up to the table where Alaara had been laid down.

"I'm afraid so, Professor." Said the Doctor.

Paeoniis took a close look at Alaara and also scanned her.

"Hmmm. It's the plague alright." He sighed. "Put her on life support like the others."

The doctor nodded and walked off to fetch a life support machine. At the same time, Paeoniis now became aware of the other Helldivers in front of him.

"Pardon my manners. I am Professor Katrax Paeoniis. This is my assistant, Dr Karin Chakwas." He said, also at the same time indicating to the white haired doctor who had just come back.

"Pleasure." Said Austin warmly as he extend his hand.

Chakwas shook it with a pleasant smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Commander Shepard." She said. "I've heard some impressive things about you and your squad."

She then fitted a small mask to Alaara's face. At the same time, the bed also suddenly change into some kind of pod, encasing Alaara inside it.

"This won't cure her, but it will keep her alive at least." He said.

"What's wrong with her exactly?" Sandra asked.

"For the last two days, some mysterious illness has gripped Arkadia." Paeoniis explained. "Almost every non-human on Arkadia is falling sick. First it starts with a cough, then they start coughing blood. It's definitely a plague or virus, but I've never seen one this powerful before in my lifetime and there's no knowledge at all in any galaxy medical records about a plague that doesn't kill humans."

"Why hasn't Arkadia been quarantined then?" Austin asked.

"As of now, it is. The order was only given this morning. All Helldivers who aren't infected have been ordered to oversee the quarantine. We're attempting to control this plague before it ends up spreading too far. Those who haven't bene infected yet are being evacuated as we speak." Chakwas explained.

"Come with me. I need to take your squad member to my lab anyway." Said Paoeoniss.

The pod containing Alaara began moving with him. Everyone followed. They came up to a sealed door which clearly said "QUARANTINE" Paeoniis inputted the code required to open it.

"Keep your helmets sealed and do not touch any of the infected. We still don't know exactly how this plague is spreading, so avoid any contact." He advised.

"What about Karin?" Austin asked.

"This thing doesn't affect humans, but she will be going through decontamination, same as us just to be safe." He said.

At the same time, Karin put a respirator on as well.

Paeoniis opened the door.

A rather shocking sight greeted them. There were pods all over the place, there were a few patients being attended to as they coughed up blood, and a few ones were even being wrapped in body bags due to unfortunately dying from the plague.

"Dear god."

"Yes. Horrifying, isn't it?" said Paeoniis rhetorically.

"This many in just two days?" Leena asked in surprise.

"I'm afraid so."

"No normal illness should be affecting these people so quickly. This plague must be especially virulent." Said Telrass.

"Keep moving. I'll explain further when we reach my lab." Said Paeoniis.

A thought then crossed Austin's mind. If this plague affected aliens as well…

"What about the Council?" he asked with concern.

"As soon as we became aware of this plague, they were taken far out of the city. They should be safe as long as the quarantine stops this plague from spreading." Chakwas explained.

They eventually reached a checkpoint which had two quarantine and riot control Helldivers guarding it.

"Professor." One of them acknowledged.

Paeoniis and Chakwas walked past, but the Helldivers stopped Alpha.

"I'm sorry, Helldivers. We need to scan you first to make you're not infected." One of them said.

"Do we have to, Commander?" Dash moaned. "These scans are rumoured to cause sterility, and I wanna have a little junior calling my Daddy someday."

"That's a scary thought." Said Leena, causing some of the others to snigger.

"Very funny, Leena."

"People, let's just get this over with." Said Austin seriously.

"Yes, sir." Everyone simple said.

They scanned Austin first and the scan lit up green.

"Clean. Next!"

Sandra stepped forward and they scanned her next.

"Clean."

Alexa, Troy and Hawke followed as well until it was just the aliens now. Kraan was the first to step forward and get scanned.

Everything seemed to be going fine… but then the scanner light flashed red.

"What?!"

"But…"

"Keep calm, sir. Your scan shows your stage 1 infectious." One of the guards said.

"I don't get sick!" Kraan objected.

"Is it hot in here, or is it just…" said Ventra. But he was interrupted when he started coughing. "Oh, that's not good."

The others then started coughing as well. They were all infected.

"Get them stabilized! Quickly!" said Paeoniis urgently.

Everyone was immediately placed in pods as well and put on life support. Only Leena seemed to be not coughing. Her scan in fact read green.

"Leena, you feeling anything?" Austin asked.

"No. I feel fine." The Quarian replied.

"I'm not surprised. We haven't had any Quarrians infected." Said Paeoniis. "Their suits filter out every known germ, toxin, parasite and allergen. Unless they're breached, this plague doesn't affect them."

The guards were about to push the pods off to join the others, but Paeoniis stopped them.

"No. Let them through with me. I need DNA samples from them anyway." He said.

"As you wish, Professor."

Next they entered through what was undeniably a decontamination chamber.

" _Please stand by. Decontamination in progress."_

They were all sprayed, then scanned again.

" _Decontamination complete. 0 contaminant factor."_

The door opened and everyone walked few. The decon tents then took two turns. One led to another door, the other led outside. Naturally, they followed Paeoniis as he walked up to the door. First he imputed a code, then had his eye scanned.

" _Identity confirmed. Welcome, Professor Paeoniis."_

The lab was filled with all sorts of advanced science equipment

"It's good that you brought them here now rather than later. If they wasn't stabilized now, they would've been dead in days." Said Paeoniis.

"So how is this plague spreading?" Troy asked.

"We're not exactly sure yet. At first we thought it was air based, but if that's true we'd have all been infected by now." Paeoniis replied. "No. We reckon it's something else. Hopefully, the blood from your friends will confirm that for me."

Paeoniis attached what looked like some kind of syringe to the sides of each pod and it extracted a small bit of blood from all of them.

"Ouch." Said Alaara weakly.

"It's just a needle. Honestly, I've treated children that make less fuss than you." Paeoniis sighed.

He walked up to his main computer console and inserted all the samples, which the computer began scanning.

"Surely there must be something you can do." Said Sandra.

"I'm doing everything I can. And stop calling me Shirley." Said Paeoniis. "The only thing I can do for now is what I've just done for your friends. Putting them on life support and providing them with constant medication stabilizes their condition. It doesn't stop the plague's effects though, it only halts them. Once they're taken off it, the plague resumes right away. Still, it'll keep them alive until I can find a cure."

"What's strange though is that a plague like this has never been seen on Arkadia before. It also acts way too fast for a normal plague. The professor's convinced it's engineered." Said Chakwas.

"But who would be capable of making something like this?" Hawk asked.

"A plague that kills aliens, but not humans? This sounds exactly like the sort of thing Hellspawn would be behind." Said Troy.

"This does indeed seem like their sort of thing, but…" said Austin. "If they have both the technology and knowledge to make something like this, then they're more advanced than we feared."

Paeoniis' computer then lit up with results from the DNA.

"Aha. Just as I predicated." He said.

"What?"

"The DNA seems to narrow things down a bit to the point where I can find the plague's core elements." The Arkane explained. "But each one is too corrupted for me to synthesise a cure."

"You have the DNA from multiple species. Is it that difficult?" Hawk asked.

"If I'm to make a proper cure for this plague that works fully, I need a sample of this thing in its purest form. It's been designed in a way that it corrupts itself with the victim's DNA, thus making it impossible to make a cure from any samples. Hellspawn obviously thought of that." Paeoniis replied.

"So if we were to somehow to find where Hellspawn are making this thing, and brought back a sample… you'd be able to cure everyone?" Austin asked.

"Absolutely. It's like how you humans cure snake bites. You use the venom from the snake that bit them to make anti-venom. It's the same principle here."

"You're sure?"

"100% If I have a pure sample of the plague, I'm positive I can make a cure from it."

"Then we have our next mission."

"Shepard, we don't even know where to begin looking. Hellspawn could be anywhere." Said Sandra.

"Professor, is there anything in these samples that might help us trace the plague to its source?" Austin asked.

Paeoniis checked all the results he had.

"No." the Arkane sighed. "Nothing that'll help you at least."

"Wait. What if we've been looking at this the wrong way? Instead of searching for the plague itself, what if we focus on the manufacturing process?" Leena suggested.

She then typed some commands into the computer. Almost immediately, new results were shown.

"Why didn't I see this before?" Paeoniis said in surprise. "The reaction emits a unique radiation spike."

"Can it be traced?" Austin asked.

"Absolutely. If we use what scanners we have throughout the galaxy, it will help narrow down the search." Leena replied.

"Okay, let's do it."

* * *

The scanners had already find quite a few matches, but so far there was nothing that seemed good.

"Hmmm. None of these links seem very likely. The radiation's far too weak in all of them." Paeoniis sighed.

"Hold on, we just got another match. Strong contender." Said Leena.

Another result was highlighted on the holo map. The radiation was the highest they'd seen out of all the results.

"Even for that planet, that's a lot." Said Austin.

"More than that, Shepard. That's the planet where Binary Helix has a huge facility for genetic engineering and biotechnology. In fact, that facility is one of the very few in this galaxy that is capable of making something like this." Said Leena.

"That's not possible though. We've had teams there for years to keep an eye on Binary Helix." Said Troy.

"Hellspawn must've bought them off… or worse." Said Austin. "This is the best lead we've had, so I suggest we investigate."

"Who's going with you then?" Hawk asked.

"All who are able. Don't think for a minute I'm leaving anyone behind for this, especially since we're lacking key squad mates right now. You all know one of the main rules of our code." Austin replied.

"What does "Never piss in a toaster" have to do with any of this?" asked Dash.

"What the fu…?! Where did… Actually, I don't even want to know where that came from." Austin sighed.

"You really are a strange human, Mr Torres." Said Paeoniis. "I wonder if the Arkanes would let me dissect your brain when you die."

"Okay… I'm just gonna stop talking now." Dash simply said, somewhat creeped out at what the Arkane had just said.

Despite the grim circumstances, it made everyone else chuckle a bit. It wasn't' often that someone was able to make Dash fall silent like that.

* * *

As everyone prepared to leave the Hellraiser to enter the facility, Austin couldn't' help but feel worried that any second Leena would suddenly fall ill as well. Despite that her suit was keeping her safe from the plague, he still worried for her.

"Are you sure about this, Leena?" he asked. "I don't doubt your abilities, but if you get infected with this plague we don't have the proper medical supplies to stabilize your condition. At least, not out in the field."

"I'll be fine unless my suit gets torn up. If that happens, I'm probably dead, anyway. And if that happens, I'll take Hellspawn with me." Said Leena.

With Telrass also currently infected and in the quarantine, Paeoniis had insisted he come along and had offered to try and serve the role of Overseer where he could. Mostly in the role of monitoring everyone's vitals from inside the Hellraiser.

"I'll be monitoring all your life sings. If I even get the slightest hint that something's wrong, I'll let you know." He said.

"Alright then. Let's do this." Said Austin.

Getting into the facility was pretty easy. Binary Helix had obviously never thought that a squad of Helldivers would infiltrate their facility. It seemed also that Hellspawn didn't have the sort of security that Alpha had expected. Most likely they couldn't increase security without Binary Helix noticing that their facility had been taken over by some anti alien terrorists.

Leena quickly found the facility and immediately worked on accessing it's systems.

"I'm in their systems." She said. "Seems you were right, Shepard. Hellspawn "acquired" this facility about 6 months ago. They've been running it since without Binary Helix ever knowing."

"That explains why they've been so quiet till now." Said Hawk. "Is there anything saying where the plague is being manufactured?"

"Yes. Here it is. They call it the Cleanser apparently…" Leena replied. She suddenly froze however when she saw something else. "Keelah!"

"What is it?"

"They're producing this plague on a massive scale. Arkadia's just the start. They're planning to use this thing across the entire galaxy to wipe out every single species except humans."

"Professor, we're uploading the data to you." Austin said into his comm.

" _I'm getting it now. Credit where it's due, Hellspawn must have some really clever scientists to make something like this in just a year."_ Said Paeoniis.

"Can you synthesize a cure?"

" _Having seen this, I can definitely confirm it'll work. I still need a sample of the Cleanser though. I can't create it from scratch."_

"Understood. We'll bring a sample to you and find a way to safely destroy all the others." Said Austin. He then turned back to the others. "We need to make sure these samples never leave this lab. Is there a way for us to safely destroy the Cleanser here?"

"Yes. Neutralizing agents should take care of it all and I can wipe all data from their systems. Assuming I'm correct, all the data's here and nowhere else. It's the only way they could keep Binary Helix from noticing." Said Leena. "Wait, they're keeping a constant eye on the system. As soon as I begin wiping the data, they'll know. Same with the neutralizing agents as well."

"How much time will we have?"

"5 minutes max."

"And how long to wipe all the data and destroy the samples?"

"Both should take about the same time."

"Then we don't have much choice. Leena, start wiping the computer, the rest of you get to work with the neutralizing agents. Make sure though that we leave one last sample. We'll need that for the cure."

Leena did what she had to do and several canisters rose out of the floor next to the computer.

" _Neutralizing agents deployed."_ Said the computer.

Everyone picked up a canister each and carried them over to the machines producing small vials of the Cleanser. Liquid flowed out of the canister and into the machines, causing the cleanser to turn colour and the machines to stop.

" _Cleanser temperature levels outside optimal range."_

"They know something's wrong, Shepard! They're on their way!" Leena warned.

" _Alert: Cleanser samples at critical levels."_

"Come on! Come on! Terminate already!" Leena yelled angrily, banging her fist on the computer's console in frustration.

" _Data wipe complete."_ The computer finally said. _"Alert: Cleanser samples terminated. One sample remaining."_

All that was left now was one vial, which Dash picked up.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He said.

Before anything further could be said however, the room became filled with gunfire as round after round flew right at or past them. Hellspawn troopers swarmed into the room, all focusing fire on Alpha.

"Find cover, now!" Austin yelled as he ducked behind a nearby crate.

Everyone else went into cover as well. In his hurry however, Dash's grip on the vial loosened. A sudden shot only made it worse as it impacted very near to his face, causing him to automatically recoil back. In the process, he let go of the vial.

Luckily, it didn't' break, but it did roll out of Dash's reach.

"Dammit!"

The vial rolled even further away and right into the open. Alpha could only watch helplessly and occasionally return fire as they watched the vial roll, hoping and praying that it didn't get shot. Because if it did…

"Hold your fire!" a familiar voice suddenly yelled.

All of Hellspawn immediately stopped, but they kept their guns trained on where Alpha were.

Sure enough, the Commander himself stepped forward, his dark armour and torn black coat still as terrifying as ever for the eyes to behold.

"Alpha. It's been too long. Still, I had a feeling that if the Arkanes eventually found this facility they'd send you. Or should I say… half of you. Your alien friends suddenly fall sick?" he asked mockingly, his dark and terrifying voice still making Alpha shiver with each word.

Behind him also was none other than Shadow, who was keeping her sniper rifle at the ready in order to protect her master. She seemed to be particularly favouring aiming it at where Austin was.

"You could say that." Austin replied, racking his brain for some kind of plan for them to get out of this.

"Good. It's no more than they deserve." Said the Commander cruelly.

"Innocent people are dying because of this plague!" said Hawk.

"That's what people DO!"

Somewhat angered by The Commander's uncaring talk, Hawk blind fired a few shot which took out a few Hellspawn troopers. The others were quick to return fire. Shadow even got a shot off that quite literally scratched Hawk's helmet, but the Commander quickly raised his hand.

"I said hold your fire, dammit!" he yelled. "Hit that vial and you'll spray the Cleanser all over the place."

"There it is, Rodriguez. The last of it." Said Austin.

"You realize I can just make more?" said the Commander.

"If that's true you'd have let the vial be destroyed already. You need it to make more, especially since we wiped your computer." Said Austin. "Not to mention also that Binary Helix will want nothing to do with you after this."

"Maybe. But there are plenty more ways I can create the Cleanser." Said the Commander. "You are correct, I do need that sample to make more. But there's also another thing you've failed to discover about my cleanser."

"And what's that then?"

"You've noticed it only affects aliens and not humans. Well… it turns out there's a little secret hidden in the Cleanser." The Commander explained. "You see, I really hate aliens, and the mere thought of humans mingling and… mating with them makes me sick. So I figured out a way to "purify the gene pool" so to speak. The Cleanser does not affect humans automatically, but… if a human has any kind of intimate or sexual contact with an infected alien…"

Austin was about to ask how that could possibly have anything to do with them, but before he could, an unwelcome noise greeted his ears. Sandra had started coughing so loud that even Hellspawn could hear her. The comm expert's hand flew to her neck and she froze as if she'd spotted something.

From inside her helmet, Sandra immediately noticed the red that she had suddenly coughed up as it stained the inside of her helmet.

"Oh no."

* * *

From inside the Hellraiser, Paeoniis immediately noticed both the visual and audio feed from Sandra, as well as her vital signs which had immediately spiked.

"Oh no!"

* * *

"Did you really think I wouldn't think of that, Alpha?" the Commander asked rhetorically. "I know your kind too well."

Sandra's coughing only got worse and she fell to the floor, now clutching her throat desperately.

Leena, who'd been behind cover very close to her was able to get close enough to help her.

"Sandra."

"I can't breathe!" Sandra wheezed.

"You say you want humanity to be the only race in existence, yet you're willing to kill humans to do so?" said Austin, his heart now beating so strong from fright and tension.

"Just the weak and impure ones." Said the Commander, his voice clearly sounding smug. He then turned to one of his men. "Get the vial. If they try anything, shoot them."

One of the troopers slowly began moving towards the vial. It was then that Austin noticed Dash take the Hellraiser's remote out…

* * *

Paeoniis jumped in surprise as the vehicle he was sat inside suddenly roared into life, despite that there was no driver. He then felt it rise up ever so slightly and parts moving as he also heard the sound of mechanics whirring and metal moving as the Hellraiser switched to Battle Mode.

For a moment, he was terrified that it was somehow possessed or had a mind of its own. But then he quickly remembered what Dash had said to him, and it soon became obvious.

The Scout was controlling the vehicle remotely.

"Boys and their toys." He sighed with relief.

* * *

The trooper reached the vial and gently picked it up. Before he could bring it back however, a loud sound could suddenly be heard throughout the facility. The sound of concrete crumbling and metal bending.

"What's that noise?!" said the Commander.

"The wall's coming down!"

All of Hellspawn whirled round as the wall behind them crumbled as it was pulled apart to reveal an unwelcome sight for them.

The Hellraiser detached it's winch from the debris and immediately opened fire. Hellspawn did the same and dove for cover. Austin immediately seized the chance while all of Hellspawn were distracted… including the one with the vial.

He quickly grabbed the trooper from behind and snapped his neck. As the trooper's hold over the vial loosened, Austin immediately grabbed it.

"Got it! Let's go!"

Dash nodded.

As if responding immediately to the Scout's acknowledgement, the Hellraiser then fired several smoke grenades, immediately restricting Hellspawn's view. Seizing the chance, Alpha ran through the smoke to their vehicle.

The Commander, being a former Helldiver himself and thus possessing different visions, quickly spotted Alpha as they ran and fired a few shots from one of his sub machine guns which only just missed.

"Don't let them escape!" he yelled.

The troopers and Shadow also opened fire but by the time the smoke cleared Alpha had already got into the Hellraiser.

As the tank sealed itself back up and turned to face Hellspawn. Realizing what was about to happen, Shadow immediately pushed the Commander out of the way. The troopers soon realized as well, but too late.

The Hellraiser fired a charged round from its main cannon which took out every trooper and sent Shadow flying into a nearby wall and burying her underneath some rubble. The Commander was clear, but one piece of debris did hit his helmet, temporarily disorienting him.

With the enemy supposedly dealt with, the Hellraiser reverted to Super Pursuit mode and its engine roared back into life.

The Commander slowly got back up. He could tell already that the troopers were all dead. His only concern was for his apprentice. He immediately threw away as much debris as possible until he found Shadow. She was injured, but alive.

The Helldiver slayer weakly looked her master, half expecting him to say that she's failed or something along those lines. But it didn't come. Instead, he said something different.

"I owe you for that sacrifice, my apprentice. I'm not about to let you die now." He said as he worked on clearing more rubble. At the same time he also gave her some medi gel to at least help her wounds.

* * *

"Recommend you hold tight, Professor." Austin advised as Leena set Sandra down on the floor in front of Paeoniis.

The Hellraiser accelerated into a power slide and accelerated. The force of this, Paeoniis was completely unprepared for he literally fell out of his seat.

"Oh I say!"

"Did warn you." Dash shrugged.

What Paeoniis did next took everyone by surprise. His cybernetic limbs actually split, dividing in half to the point where he now had four arms. The upper two of his arms grabbed onto the railings on the ceiling while his lower two were left free.

* * *

The gunship soon hovered into view. Just as it began adjusting its angle so it could pick up the Hellraiser however, several rockets shot past and some gunfire actually hit its hull. This forced Alexa to back off.

" _Shepard, there's too much firepower. I can't get close enough to pick you up."_ She said.

"We'll get to a safer zone." Said Dash.

" _I'll do my best to cover you from the air if I can."_

The Hellraiser once again sped off, this time with the gunship hovering close. As expected, a small army composing of both off pursuit vehicles and tanks appeared and were quick to give chase.

Normally, Dash would just turn the Hellraiser round, revert to Battle Mode and fight back, but with Sandra dying, now was definitely not the time. This time, the Hellraiser was about to have its speed and manoeuvrability put to the test.

The chase was on.

* * *

From inside the Hellraiser, Paeoniis had suddenly got hard to work on mixing various chemicals and vials using his free pair of hands.

"What are you doing?" Austin asked.

"She's been infected with the Cleanser too long. If I don't find some way to slow it down at least, she'll die." Paeoniis replied.

Austin simply nodded in acknowledgment. He then turned to Dash.

"Head though the city." he ordered.

"Are you sure?" Dash asked in surprise.

"We have a better chance of losing them, and Alexa may be able to cover us better." Said Austin.

Dash simply nodded.

Troy was definitely regretting sitting in the front passenger seat now. By no means was this his first time in the Hellraiser, but it was the first time he'd been up front. This time he was not only facing forward but he could also properly feel whenever the front leant to the side during a corner, plus he seemed to feel the g force on his front a lot more. Odd considering that Alpha usually didn't in the back, especially considering they were facing sideways. Dash had mentioned something to him about it having dampeners in the back similar to what a dropship and shuttle had, but it didn't have them at the front.

Fearing that he was probably in for a rough ride, he made sure his harness was properly secured.

The Hellraiser sped through the streets with many Hellspawn vehicles right on its tail. None of them dared get too close after the many stories they'd heard about the last guys who dared try that on this monster. Some of the vehicles attempted to fire on the tank, but they predictably bounced off.

When several Hellspawn vehicles blocked the road ahead, Dash was forced to pull a sharp turn. Despite Paeoniis stabilizing himself with his arms, he was still unable to overcome gravity pulling at him. He just barely managed to not spill the contents of his vials.

Dash then pulled another sharp turn which this time caused them to crash right through part of a glass building.

"Agh!" Troy yelled, covering his helmet's optics. "Yep… someone was hurt in that one."

He was exaggerating of course. Dash may have been a crazy driver, but he was not a murdering one. He'd been able to manoeuvre the Hellraiser so that it missed any civilians. In fact, that was why he'd been forced to crash the glass, so that he avoided running anyone over.

Troy suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of flight engines. He pulled up one of the feeds from the Hellraiser cameras to confirm his suspicion. Sure enough, he saw a gunship in the screen… and it wasn't theirs.

Dash noticed too and once again pulled a sharp turn, this time into a narrow street. It was still wide enough for the Hellraiser and the Hellspawn vehicles to fit, but narrow enough that the gunship would have a much harder time keeping a visual lock on them.

Two more vehicles suddenly appeared from around the corner in front, forcing Dash to take another turn, this time into a car lot.

"Dash, what are you doing?" Troy asked worriedly as he held onto one of the handle bars above him.

"Shortcut." Dash replied.

The vehicles pursued the Hellraiser to the top level. Realizing, that Alpha were cornered p here, they formed a roadblock, blocking the only way down.

Troy was about question Dash's logic in doing this as they were not only trapped up here, but also out in the open where Hellspawn's gunship had a clear shot at them. Before he could however, Dash suddenly reversed into a space between two parked vehicles. Due to both the speed, and the Hellraiser's width, the two vehicles were scratched and nudged to the side a fair bit.

"Well, that was smooth parking." Troy commented unimpressively.

With the ramp locked down, the Hellspawn troopers got out of their vehicles and pointed all their guns at the Hellraiser.

"We've got 'em! There's no other way off that roof." One of the Hellspawn troopers said.

"Turn off your engine! Step away from the… tank." Another one ordered, unable to hide the slight nervousness in his voice as the Hellraiser's engine revved loudly a few times.

"Dash…" said Troy worriedly.

"Trust me." Dash smiled from under his helmet.

" _Battle Mode activated!"_

The Hellraiser once again transformed, it's weapons all pointing directly at Hellspawn. The troopers expected the tank to open fire on them any moment and they braced for the inevitable. Rather than aim directly at them however, the Hellraiser instead fired at one of their vehicles. At shot from the 60mm cannon hit one of the vehicles causing it to flip and explode before landing on it's roof with the back sticking up in the air.

The Hellraiser then reverted back to Super Pursuit Mode and accelerated right at the destroyed vehicle. It was only now that Hellspawn finally noticed that the vehicle was at the perfect angle for a ramp. Right as the massive tank's front wheels touched the destroyed vehicle, its afterburner then activated as well. The Hellraiser flew into the air, right over the gap between the parking lot, and the next building.

Troy was unable to keep it in, and screamed in fright.

"No no no Nooooooooooooooooo!"

Right as Hellspawn's gunship caught sight of the Hellraiser again, it touched back down on the roof. It's searchlight locked onto the vehicle and tried to stay locked on.

" _Where are they going?"_

" _They're on the roof."_

Despite the roof's mostly smooth surface, it was anything but. The various pipes and such made the ride unbelievably bumpy.

One particular bit caused the Hellraiser's back to shoot up rather hard.

"Whoa!"

The jump also caused everyone in the back to be flung up since they weren't wearing any harnesses and Paeoniis banged his head really hard on the ceiling.

"Ow! That hurt so much!" he said, rubbing his head crossly.

To avoid the edge, Dash was forced to pull a power slide, knocking several pieces of debris off and onto several Hellspawn vehicles down below.

"You maniac." Paeoniis groaned, managing to pick himself up again after the power slide and still groaning form his soar head.

" _What street are they taking?"_

" _They're not on a street. They're flying on rooftops!"_

The Hellraiser once again jumped onto the roof of another building before finally landing back on a road at long last.

"Ow!"

"You know, this is a pretty comfortable ride even though you're hitting everything you see." Troy admitted.

"I don't like this!" Paeoniis groaned.

More Hellspawn vehicles quickly resumed the chase, but Dash cleverly took a right turn down a hill into the underpass. With those roads being mostly straight, he could max the Hellraiser out fully.

Sure enough, the pursuing vehicles had difficulty keeping up as the Hellraiser sped away.

In an attempt to try and slow the Hellraiser down, more Hellspawn vehicles formed a road block up ahead with both vehicles and barriers.

" _Got 'em!"_

The Hellraiser though once again power slid around a turn and sped off, the vehicles once again giving chase.

"Hmm. They certainly don't give up easy." Said Dash. "This should change their minds."

The Scout pressed a button and several sphere like objects with spikes sticking out of them fell out of the Hellraiser's rear and onto the road.

" _Coming up on their rear…"_

The trooper's sentence was quickly cut off however when one of the wheels on his vehicle hit one of the many spikes and it instantly burst. The vehicle flipped several times before finally settling, causing a few other pursuing vehicles to crash into it.

The other vehicles managed to speed past. One however got a bit too close to the Hellraiser and ended up alongside the six wheeled tank. He only noticed this too late as the Hellraiser swerved to the right a bit then went left at full charge, crashing right into him, forcing him against a nearby wall, and crushing the vehicle completely leaving nothing but crumpled up metal.

Another vehicle tried the same tactic, but this time stuck to behind, believing that Dash wouldn't spot him. But that too was a mistake.

"Wrong move, pal." Dash smiled smugly.

He flicked another switch and the Hellraiser's afterburner fired a devastating burst of fire which immediately caused the vehicle behind to completely burst into flames. The vehicle swerved, causing another vehicle to crash into it along with another before the fire ignited the vehicle's fuel tank and it exploded, taking out the other vehicles in the process.

"Oh alright. Say it." Troy sighed, having observed the whole thing in his rear view monitor. "I know you're dying to."

"They got a pretty warm reception." Said Dash casually.

Everyone else just sighed at the pun.

"Speaking as a Professor of medical science: He's crazy." Paeoniis mumbled, still continuously mixing vials at a fast ate.

"You have no idea." Austin sighed.

"No offense, Dash. But you're driving… Where are you going?" Troy asked in confusion as Dash took a turn onto the freeway.

" _We've got 'em now. They're on the freeway."_

Dash though was once again unfazed by this and he pressed several more buttons.

"And for my next trick…"

* * *

To the utter shock of every Hellspawn vehicle in pursuit, their target just completely vanished. Even the roar of the tank's engine disappeared too.

" _We lost 'em!"_

" _Commander, we've lost them. Target's vehicle can cloak. I say again, the Hellraiser has a cloaking device."_

* * *

For a moment, everyone thought they'd gone deaf as the Hellraiser's loud engine cut out and switched to an electric motor while also cloaking.

They'd heard Dash say it could cloak like they did, but seeing it for real was rather impressive.

" _Stealth mode activated."_

"Stay with us, Sandra." Said Austin, noting how the comm expert's condition was worsening.

The Hellraiser quietly sped past one of the Hellspawn vehicles, but one of the troopers caught sight of the Hellraiser's camouflaged form.

" _Wait, there they are!"_

The cloak deactivated as the Hellraiser's engine roared back into life and it increased speed again. Dash pulled a hard left which caused him to smash right through the concrete barrier of the freeway. The Hellspawn vehicles, unable to turn in time, ended up crashing into the concrete or completely skidding.

"Okay. That should stabilize her long enough until I synthesize a cure." Said Paeoniis, injecting the contents of the vial he'd been working on into Sandra's arm.

A minute or two passed before Dash was sure they'd finally lost their pursuers.

"Alexa, we've lost 'em." He said.

" _I've got a visual on you. Coming in to pick you up."_

The gunboat soon flew into view. Before it could get any close however, a missile flew right past it, just barely missing it. It was the Hellspawn gunship from earlier. Seemed it had found them again.

" _I can't pick you up until you deal with that gunship. It's too dangerous."_ Said Alexa, quickly backing off.

The Hellspawn gunship let her go and stayed on the Hellraiser's tail. A familiar voice then emitted from loudspeakers.

" _No escape this time, Alpha!"_ said Hades.

"Alright then, Hades. Eat my dust!" said Dash.

He immediately activated the afterburner and the Hellraiser sped away. The gunship though was quick to accelerate as well and gave chase, opening fire as he pursued them.

"I can hear guns firing!" said Troy worriedly.

"Uh-oh, he's above us!" said Dash. "Turning down here…"

The Hellraiser pulled a sharp right only to find the gunship hovering very low to where they were. It fired a rocket, but the Hellraiser just managed to fire a small burst from it's side. Coupled with the all six wheels rotating to the side slightly, the Hellraiser was able to move to the side just in time and the rocket shot right past it, impacting on the ground behind.

"Holy shit, that was close!" said Dash, breathing a sigh of relief.

The relief was short lived however as the gunship hovered back into view.

"He's above us again!" said Troy.

" _Come on, ya son of a bitch!"_

The gunship hovered for a while as it attempted to get another lock while the Hellraiser pulled another sharp right.

"Let's go this way."

They finally found themselves in the clear with enough space for Alexa to pick them up, but Dash soon realized to late it was a dead end. Right in front of them was the sea, and another way was blocked by rocks to tall and steep for the Hellraiser to climb. The gunship once again hovered into view.

"Okay, bad idea."

" _I have you now!"_

The gunship fired several missiles again. Surprisingly however, they all missed. Instead however, they hit the only way out, blocking it with debris. That had been Hades' plan all along.

"Dash, he's cut off our only escape. We're trapped." Said Troy.

" _Nowhere to run now, Alpha!"_ Hades' voice bellowed from the gunship.

"What are we gonna do now?"

"I'm going to show Hades what happens when he messes with us." Said Dash.

" _Activating Battle Mode"_

As the Hellraiser switched to Battle Mode once again, Hades also primed all the weapons he had. He was going to enjoy this.

" _Come on then, Alpha! Let's see if you can keep up with me!"_

The gunship almost immediately fired a bombardment of bombs from it's side. Dash resorted to avoiding them by simply strafing or using the thrusters. Not a single bomb touched the tank.

When it stopped, the Hellraiser immediately returned fire it's minigun. Several rounds hit the gunship right on, a few hitting some of the weapons, causing them to explode. Hades though wasn't' worried. They'd just got lucky, and there was more where that came from.

The Hellraiser had made the unfortunate mistake of remaining stationary while it fired at him, more than long enough for him to get a lock.

Two missiles fired from either side of the gunship, heading straight for the Hellraiser. To Hades' utter surprise however, instead of trying to dodge them it returned fire. He'd expected the tank to attempt to dodge them, only to still be hit since the missiles were heat seeking. Instead however, the Hellraiser's minigun fired and shot both missiles right out of the sky.

Despite the surprise and anger it brought Hades, he kept his cool. He would not give Alpha the satisfaction of outsmarting him.

" _Nice shooting! That's gonna make this so much more interesting."_

Two shots from the Hellraiser's main cannon followed, but Hades managed to managed the gunship o the side and they missed. As he did however it fired a third shot which hit him square on. His shield warning light immediately came on. Hades had to admit now this was not going as he'd planned. If his shield's fell, the gunship would still be able to withstand several shots, but if they shot out all his weapons he'd definitely be dead. Worse still, the Hellraiser was continuously boosting with every attack he tried, never bothering to stop for a second.

" _I want that tank destroyed, Hades!"_ The Commander said over the comms.

"The movement on that thing, it's… it's difficult to get a lock!" Hades groaned.

He attempted another bombardment of missiles, but the Hellraiser once again strafed and avoided them.

"I'll teach you shoot missiles at me." Said Dash.

The Hellraiser returned fire with its own missile barrage. The gunship attempted to avoid, but the missiles stayed locked on. They all hit either side of the gunship, taking out every single weapon that Hades had left.

"Weapons offline! What the hell was that?!"

" _The Hellraiser has simultaneous strike capabilities. Think faster!"_ said the Commander.

Hades kept looking at the damage report, hoping it might change. All of his weapons had now been destroyed. The only one he had left that was still functioning was the bombs he'd used earlier, and as he knew now the Hellraiser was able to easily avoid those.

In the end, he was left with little alternative. It was true that he'd very likely die doing it, but if he retreated, the Commander's anger would be too terrible to imagine.

" _Alright, Alpha. Dodge this!"_

The gunship lunged forward at the Hellraiser, firing a barrage of bombs as it went. The Hellraiser just narrowly managed to boost to the side. A quick little reflex from Dash also and the main cannon fired.

The round caught one of the gunship's main engine, causing it immediately explode and causing the gunship to start spinning out of control.

It spun for at least a few seconds before finally crashing about a metre or so away from the Hellraiser. As it hit the ground, it exploded.

"How's that for going for a spin?" Dash smiled smugly.

"Shut up, Dash." Hawk sighed.

"Alexa, its all clear. We're ready for pickup." Said Austin.

" _Roger that."_

The gunboat once again hovered into view and this time gently attached itself to the Hellraiser before lifting off, taking the tank with it.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief once they managed to Sandra stabilized using the gunboat's on-board life support. At least that part was over.

* * *

As the dropship flew off, a large piece of the Hellspawn gunship was suddenly thrown away as a rather injured but still alive, Hades smashed his way out of the wreckage. He simply watched Alpha fly away with bitterness. They'd bested him for now, but there'd be many more opportunities. Now he just had to hope the Commander was merciful towards him. The fallen Helldiver was not known for tolerating failure.

* * *

The very second Alpha returned to Arkadia, they all rushed back to Paeoniis' lab. The Professor immediately set to work on making the cure while Sandra was put on life support with the others, who'd been left in the care of Dr Chakwas who had managed to look after them well during the rest of Alpha's absence.

"I don't get it though. How could Sandra have been infected? Far as we know, she's never had sex with an alien." Said Austin.

"Well, she must have. There's no other possible explanation." Said Paeoniis, his focus still remaining on the screen as his four arms worked endlessly on the cure.

"Oh Sandra, I am so sorry." said Alaara from within her pod.

"Don't be, it's not your fault." Said Sandra.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" said Alexa in alarm. "You two?!"

"We were going to tell you eventually." Said Alaara "Didn't think you'd find out this way but… Sandra and I are… bondmates."

"You're serious?" said Hawk, also in surprise.

"Well… I don't believe it." Said Troy.

"I'm happy for you two. Admittedly, I did often think you two had an eye for each other." Alexa said after being quiet for a while. "How long's this been going on then?"

"About two years now." Sandra explained. "You see it all started on that night before we were about to take down those Batarians…"

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

The Endeavour was quiet as most of the crew was getting the rest they needed, Alpha especially. There was one however that was not sleeping.

Alaara slowly walked up to Sandra's door, trying to stop herself from shaking. Eventually, after almost five minutes, she finally plucked up the courage and knocked gently on the door.

It opened and there stood Sandra.

"Alaara?" she said in surprise. "I… is everything alright? I thought you would've been in bed or something."

"I couldn't sleep. I…" Alaara said, barely managing to find her words. "I was hoping to talk to you about something. May I come in?"

"Of course."

Alaara walked in and sat on the nearby sofa while Sandra pulled up a chair in front of her.

"Is something troubling you?" the humans asked with concern.

"No. Well… actually yes." Alaara replied.

"You can talk to me about it, Alaara. I'm your friend." Said Sandra.

"I'm glad to hear that, but… well, first of all I'm not sure how to start this." Said Alaara. "And it… concerns you."

"Oh no. I've said something to offend you again haven't I?"

"No!" Alaara objected. "Goddess, no! It's not that at all. I'm not upset at you or anything like that."

"Okay…" said Sandra, now very confused. "Just take it easy and start from the beginning. I will listen."

"Alright." Alaara began. "You remember about a year or two ago when were undercover, and… I kissed you? And then some time after we… did it?"

"I remember."

"Well… oh goddess, how do I say this?"

"Take your time."

"Thank you. Alright… ever since then, I've often dreamed of those moments again. I often wish I would dream about something else more often, but it seems to always be those exact moments every single time."

"I see."

"I can't stop thinking about them. And… I can't stop… thinking about you."

"I think I'm beginning to see where this going." Said Sandra, trying to remain calm.

"You're probably one of the bravest and strongest human women I've ever met. You've been a good friend to me as well. Deep down though, there's a part of me who often thinks of us… being… more." Said Alaara. "Goddess, I'm stumbling over my words here. This is… tricky."

"Don't worry. I'm here for you."

"I can't stop thinking about you, Sandra. Whenever I'm around you, I feel different. I feel, safer… I feel happier, knowing that you have my back and that I have yours… and at the same time I worry every time I see you get shot at." Said Alaara. "I… I care for you… more than I've ever cared for someone before. Whenever I've been with someone else, it's always been just sex. Never feelings, never like this"

"Alaara, I…" Sandra struggled to say. "I had no idea you felt that way about me. I've always been aware of the constant flirting you do with me, and the sex jokes you've sometimes made with me, but I assumed it was just playful flirting, like you often do with everyone else. And we both said the one night stand was just for fun."

A long silence followed.

"Is that why you've stopped recently?" Sandra finally said. "This is why you've been so much quieter than usual?"

"Yes. Whenever I think about trying to flirt with you, I now worry that you'll turn me away, or ignore me. Or that you'll, I…" Alaara struggled to say. "What I'm trying to say is… I… I'm… I…"

"I love you." She finally managed to say. "There, I said it."

"You really mean that?" Sandra asked.

"Yes. I've never said that before, but now I finally have." Alaara replied. "I know you don't feel the same way about me, but keeping this all locked up was easting me from inside. I felt I had to tell you and get it off my chest before tomorrow, seeing how the odds are."

She went to leave, but Sandra suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Wait, you think I don't feel that way for you?" the human asked.

"Well of course you don't. I mean, why would you?" Alaara asked rhetorically. "I'm a 300 year old Asari daughter of two pornstars who's obsessed with sex and used to work for the Eclipse. Not to mention you've always responded casually to my flirting and charm. You deserve to be with someone better, someone who will make you happy all the time, not just in bed."

"But…" Sandra tried to say.

"Anyway, I've said what I came to say. I should let you get some rest." Said Alaara. She once again tried to leave, but Sandra didn't let go of her arm. "What are you doing?"

"I feel I should tell you that you're wrong." Sandra replied.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're wrong about yourself, and you're wrong about me."

"I don't understand."

"You say I deserve someone better. Someone who will make me happy all the time. And yet, here you are and I've never felt happier."

"But…"

"Let me finish, please." Said Sandra. "You seem to think I don't feel the same way about you, that I see you as a friend only."

"But you do."

"No, I don't." said Sandra. "I will admit, I probably haven't been feeling this way as long as you have, but recently I've also started thinking about you."

"You have?"

"You're one of the most beautiful Asari I've ever met. You're often funny with your little sex talk, and you've put that to such good use. Not to mention that you're flirting was actually quite flattering for me. The fact that you consider me pretty enough to flirt with me like that… it makes me think that perhaps I see you as more than just a friend. And I definitely see more than just an everyday Asari who thinks she's no one special. You're special to me. You've often protected me at times with your biotics, and you even kissed me to save both our lives."

"Sandra, you don't need to say this to make me feel better."

"I'm telling the truth, Alaara!" said Sandra sternly. "You think there's better people for me out there? Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. But that doesn't matter to me anymore. I don't want anyone else. I want you. You pretty much just poured your heart out to me and told me that you loved me. You told me something that I didn't think I'd ever hear. Not because I wasn't interested, but because I thought you weren't interested. I didn't know you felt this way about me… when I feel exactly the same way."

"Goddess, Sandra…" Alaara said, a tear of happiness lowly trickling down her cheek. "Do you really mean that?"

"Alaara T'onrack… I love you too." Said Sandra as she took the Asari's face in her hands. "Now just kiss me already."

Unable to resist, Alaara threw both her hands around Sandra and pulled her right into a kiss.

It felt completely different to the last time they'd kissed. This time it was like they could feel the love and affection in each other's kiss. Unlike previous times when they'd kissed, it felt real, like they were actually kissing because they wanted each other, not because they were trying to fool people. They felt like they belonged in each other's arms, like they were finally were they were meant to be at long last. After all they'd been through, they felt true peace for the first time in many years. Nothing mattered to them now, no more fighting, no more war, no more struggling to work with one another… just them, and all the time they could ever want to spend with each other.

After almost a minute, they finally broke apart very gently. If anything, Alaara seemed more lost for words about this than Sandra was.

"I can't believe we just did that… for real." Said Alaara "It's strange. I've kissed you before, and yet… that felt like our very first kiss to me."

"Well technically, it was in a way. Besides, once you say "I love you" a kiss has to taste differently." Sandra smiled.

"Yeah, I suppose that's true." Said Alaara "I still can't believe this is actually happening though. I love you, and you love me too? This has to be a dream."

A sudden shock came to her when Sandra spanked her.

"There, I think that proves it's not." She said.

"Never thought I'd ever see you do that to me." Said Alaara, somewhat surprised.

"Believe me, I've wanted to do that for a long time." Sandra smiled cheekily.

The two once again kissed and then hugged one another for a long time before Alaara eventually broke the silence.

"So… what happens now?" she asked.

"Well now… I know exactly what happens next." Sandra smiled. "What will happen next is that you are going to push me down into this bed, you are going to tear off my clothes and we are going to make love like there is no tomorrow."

"You're serious?! You want us to have sex this soon?" Alaara asked in surprise.

"Yes. I've never been more ready for anything else." Said Sandra. "I won't lie, I too am also worried about what will come next. If this is to be our first and only night together, then I refuse to let us not make the most of it."

"I… I love you." Alaara said again.

"I love you too. Now please make love to me before I lose my patience." Said Sandra.

"I hope you're prepared then, my love. I've had over 300 years of experience to know exactly what to do to make a human woman you like you pass out for pleasure." Alaara smiled confidently as she pushed Sandra on to the bed and got on top of her.

"I'm gonna hold you to it then." Said Sandra.

The two saw no point in taking it slow. They almost immediately started kissing each other furiously as they tore at each other's clothes, desperate to get everything off as quickly as possible.

Alaara took a lot more time to admire, Sandra's body. Previously she hadn't taken a huge look, but this time she did. Previous times, she hadn't realised just how much muscle Sandra had. She was nowhere near as big as Leena, but she still had enough muscle to give some of the men some competition. Most notice of all though was her core, which Alaara noticed didn't have six abs… she had eight. Yeah, this woman actually had an eight pack.

Up till now, Alaara had only known Shepard to have that many.

This almost made Alaara a little jealous. She had plenty of muscle herself, but she was nowhere near as fit looking or as well toned as Sandra.

This became Alaara's first point of focus as she began kissing Sandra's stomach, running her hands over the human's abs. After some time, she began moving up Sandra's body until she reached her breasts. In Alaara's eyes, they were pretty much perfect. Big enough that they certainly drew her gaze, but not too big to the point where they'd become impractical.

The Asari's mouth latched onto one and began to gently suck. Sandra's head lay back in ecstasy and her hands moved to Alaara's crests, feeling the smoothness of the skin on them.

After some time, Alaara then finally moved up again. She kissed all the way up Sandra's neck until she finally reached the humans' lips. Both locked into a kiss with each. At the same time, Alaara's left hand massaged Sandra's breast while her left slowly slid lower and lower until it reached her nether regions. Two fingers gently slid in, causing Sandra to moan into the kiss. She really did think she was in heaven this time.

"… You're good." She moaned in-between kisses.

"I do try." Said Alaara. For a long moment, she looked into the human's eyes. She loved this woman more than anything and she wanted them to become truly one. "Sandra… will you… Will you Join with me? Let our bodies and minds unite?"

"I'd love nothing more." Sandra smiled. "How does it work though exactly?"

"Simple, really." Said Alaara as she moved her head up close to her love's. "Like this. Embrace Eternity."

Both the Asari's eyes turned completely black.

Almost immediately, Sandra felt a completely new experience that she'd never felt before. Memories of completely different life poured into her head, she felt different sensations that she'd never felt. So many memories of various different partners Alaara had been with, the Asari's earliest memories of when she'd been just a child, the sun and spring breeze of Thessia where she grew up, her former life as an Eclipse merc, it was almost overwhelming.

Mind you, it was the same for Alaara as well. Even for one as promiscuous as Alaara, Asari took Joining and Unions very seriously. For them, there was nothing more intimate. Although Alaara slept around on a very regular basis with many different species, both male and female, even she knew better about the meld, and how much it meant. Despite that she was at least 300 years old, she'd only so far had Union with about 3 or 4 partners, all of which she had sadly outlived. Still, wanting to take such a step like this meant a lot to Alaara. She'd sleep and have sex with anyone, but she'd only meld with those she loved.

"This… this is beyond anything I ever imagined." Sandra gasped, almost feeling like she might orgasm right now.

"And it gets better." Alaara smiled seductively. "You won't have heard of this, but it's something that all Asari know about."

The Asari slowly sat up and took both her breasts in her hands. She immediately became surrounded by a blue aura as her biotics activated. To Sandra's utter shock her breasts then slowly started to grow and enlarge. Sandra was speechless as Alaara literally went from already having fairly large breasts to having simply massive tits the size of a matriarchs. Finally after a few seconds, Alaara finally let go of her breasts and they stopped enlarging. The biotic filed shimmering around her also dispersed.

"How did…" Sandra struggled to say, almost lost for words. "Didn't know you could do that!"

"It can only be done during a Union." Said Alaara, bouncing her now massive breasts in her hands slightly, the sight of which made Sandra lick her lips slightly. "They'll revert back to normal after tonight."

Unable to resist any longer, Sandra gently sat up and began sucking on one of Alaara's nipples.

"Mmmmmmm. That's it. Suck on 'em." The Asari moaned as she began grinding her azure against Sandra's pussy.

At the same time, Alaara's hands also snuck down to Sandra's tits and squeezed them firmly. With a small smirk, she once again activated her bitoics.

"Oh, Alaara! What are you doing to me?!" Sandra moaned blissfully into Alaara's massive tits. It was when she finally opened her eyes and looked down that she suddenly noticed that Alaara had somehow enlarged her breasts as well. "What the…"

"Works for the partner as well." Alaara smiled naughtily. "Not that there was anything wrong with your tits to begin with, but I thought you might like to share the experience."

"Alaara."

"Yes, love?"

"Please lick me."

"With pleasure."

The Asari moved lower and lower until her face was right up close with Sandra's pussy. She immediately began to lick, enjoying the taste. It was hardly unusual for her. She'd tasted plenty of humans enough to become acquainted with the flavour.

Sandra only moaned in pleasure is she felt the Asari's tongue constantly licking at her. Occasionally, she even moaned in her native Russian language due to the sheer pleasure, something which Alaara's translator didn't seem to understand.

Spurred on by this, Alaara stuck her tongue out as much as she could and plunged it in as deep as it would go.

This finally drove Sandra over the edge and she literally screamed, before finally falling back onto the bed, almost in exhaustion.

"How was it?" Alaara smiled smugly.

"Amazing." Sandra panted.

"Told you I'd make you scream."

After only just a few seconds, Sandra then got on top of Alaara.

"My turn now." She smiled eagerly.

"Good luck then." Said Alaara. "I've had sex with three Matrons together and they all failed to make me to cum in 4 hours for two nights."

Alaara's cockiness however as it turns out, took a major blow. Sandra almost immediately attacked Alaara's Azure with such aggressiveness that Alaara let out a surprised moan of pleasure.

"OH GODDESS! YOU'RE SO GOOD WITH YOUR TONGUE!" she moaned.

How the hell was this human doing this? She was giving the Asari enough pleasure to rival not just the three matron, but possibly even an Asari matriarch. The Asari was in so much ecstasy that she was unable to keep her hands off her enlarged breasts as she pinched both her nipples while moaning in pleasure.

And after just about one minute, she felt it. That imminent feeling that she was going to orgasm.

"UH! I'M SO CLOSE! YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO MAKE ME CUM!" she moaned in surprise and pleasure.

Spurred on, Sandra only intensified her licking. At the same time, she also inserted three fingers to help speed things up.

"GODDESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The two lovers, now bond mates, both fell onto the bed in exhaustion. Alaara stroked Sandra's hair affectionately as she looked lovingly at the human's beautiful face.

"I don't know how you managed to do that… but it just made me fall in love with you all the more." Said the Asari.

"I could probably get used to this much sex if it's going to happen on a regular basis." Said Sandra.

"You bet your pretty ass it is." Said Alaara eagerly.

They both looked at the time. It was quite late and they probably only had about 5 to 4 hours left.

"We should get some sleep now while we still can." Said Sandra. "Much as I enjoyed that immensely."

"Well, don't think it ends when you fall asleep." Alaara smiled suggestively. "Did I tell that Union stays active even when you're asleep?"

Sandra didn't reply, but her raised eyebrows said everything.

With that, the two finally drifted off to sleep, happier than they'd ever been in a long time.

**END OF FLASHBACK**

* * *

"That's pretty much it." Sandra finished.

"So… I take it…" said Alexa.

"Well, technically she's the one who's been taking it." Said Alaara.

Dash tried his best to hold back his laughter, but a slight snort and giggle did slip out.

"We're dead serious about this relationship and fully intend to continue. I assume that isn't a problem with anyone?" Sandra asked seriously.

"No."

"Not at all."

"A surprise, I'll admit…" said Austin. "But not a problem at all. I think I speak for all of us when I say we're very happy for you both."

"Well of course you'd approve, Shepard. From what I hear, you and that Azure Angel have been seeing each other a lot recently." Said Dash as he nudged Austin encouragingly.

"We're seeing where it goes for now." Said Austin calmly.

"Well at least I don't have to keep this a secret anymore and we can all talk about it." Said Dash, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Wait, you knew?" Alexa asked in surprise.

"He kind of found out by accident. It's a bit a long story." Said Alaara.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried to press for the details, Dash. It's the sort of thing you usually do." Said Leena.

"If they were just doing it, then yeah. But they're in a proper relationship and everything. Even I know this is something to take seriously." Said Dash seriously.

* * *

An hour passed before Paeoniis' computer suddenly beeped.

"Well?"

"The cure's finished and I've run every possible simulation." Said Paeoniis. "It's now or never."

Alaara was the first to be injected to see if it worked. As the cure was injected into her she felt a slight tingle throughout her body, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Any change?" Austin asked hopefully.

"I'm not sure. My throat still feels very soar, and it's difficult to tell with this mask on." Alaara replied.

Austin simply nodded to Paeoniis and the Arkane removed Alaara's respirator.

The Asari slowly sat up and took several deep breaths.

Suddenly one hand flew to her mouth as if she was trying to stop something coming out. Her other hand flew to her stomach.

"Give me something quick! I think I'm gonna be sick!" she managed to say.

Austin immediately scooped up the biggest container he could find and handed it too her. An unpleasant amount of retching and coughing came from Alaara as she seemed to spew something out of her mouth and into the container. Austin worried for a moment it was something serious due to it's green colour

Paeoniis however looked rather calm, as though he'd expected this.

"Ah. I had a feeling that might happen." Paeoniis admitted. "Not to worry. It's just the body clearing the cleanser out. Perfectly normal."

Once Alaara had finally stopped throwing up, she coughed a bit and managed to clear her throat before once taking several deep breaths.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, actually. I feel much better." Alaara panted.

"May I?" Paeoniis asked.

Alaara nodded and allowed the Arkane to scan her.

"Hmm. The cure appears to have been successful." He said proudly. "There's no trace at all of the cleanser left in your DNA, and you appear to be completely healthy again."

"Thank god for that." said Austin, breathing a sigh of relief.

With the cure proved to work, it was immediately given to Alpha and Paeoniis sent Chakwas off to give the cure to all the other infected. Once Sandra had recovered herself, she and Alaara immediately hugged one another.

"I thought I was going to lose you." Said Sandra, unable to hold back a tear.

"So did I." said Alaara.

"Well, this does explain why you two have been so happy these past few years." Said Kraan, giving a slight cough after having just cleared the cleanser out of his own system. "I'm going to guess that the weekend you were away, you spent it together?"

"Of course. That's probably also how Sandra got infected." Said Alaara ashamedly.

"It's not your fault." Sandra repeated.

"Speaking of which though, there's one thing I still don't' understand. How did Hellspawn manage to unleash the Cleanser without us ever knowing? Was it food or something else?" Troy asked.

"Aerosol." Paeoniis replied.

"Once again though, how'd they disperse it without us noticing?" Austin asked, gazing out the window as he tried to find an answer.

It was then that he noticed the outside weather of Akadia. It was still only January at this time and it was rather cold. There was no snow, but quite a bit of fog and mist.

Fog, and mist… The revelation struck Austin so hard he cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"The fog."

"What was that?"

"The cleanser's in the fog. They waited for the exact right time to unleash it when we'd start getting cold weather and fog." Austin said.

Paeoniis walked up to his computer and ran a scan of the weather. The results were positive.

"I'll be dammed. He's right."

"Well, at least now we know how we can clear it. This is gonna make of a heck of a dinner party story one day…" said Austin. He was interrupted though when he spotted Dash examining and fiddling with some of Paeoniis' science equipment very closer. "Dash, what are you doing?"

The Scout then picked up a jar and very nearly dropped it when he realized what was inside.

"Are these human eyes?!" he asked in shock.

"Put those back!" Paeoniis demanded.

"You had these in a microwave."

"It's an experiment."

Dash reluctantly did as he was told.

"And they say I'm crazy." He muttered to himself.

* * *

Reports from Hellspawn's spied already confirmed that the infected were being treated and the plague was already being cleared from Arkadia's atmosphere.

Today had been a bitter blow for the Commander. Not only had he lost one of his most powerful weapons, but his apprentice was also injured and Hades had lost a perfectly good gunship. Not to mention that Binary Helix had also been alerted to Hellspawn taking over one of their facilities, forcing the terrorist group to evacuate.

The fallen Helldiver had shown mercy on his second in command this time. After all, he understood all too well how powerful that tank of theirs was. It was clear now that this, Hellraiser was as much a problem as Alpha had become. He had already instructed Thornton, Elsa and his scientists to start new research along the lines of making Hellraiser equivalents. If Alpha were going to play hard to get, then so would they.

Right now however, the Commander's mind was on something else. The Cleanser had now been made redundant, but there was one last use it could have.

Through his many dealings, the Commander had become aware of a rather strange species. A very isolated race that periodically travelled to the terminus system looking t gain unique items or specimens, usually in exchange for some of their technology, which was said to be incredibly advanced.

It was true the Commander hated all non-humans, but that didn't mean he hated their technology. After all, much of the technology used today by all species was derived from the technology left behind by the Protheans. So the Commander was perfectly happy to make deals with aliens in the long term, and use their technology. It was temporary after all, in the long run he'd wipe them all out. The technology was just another tool he could use to exterminate them. After all, if someone was to give him a weapon he would not complain that it was dirty, he'd use it.

He opened up a secure comm channel. His many dealings with tech and information had allowed him to know how to get in contact with these… Collectors.

After a few seconds, his holo screen changed to show an insect like head staring it him with four glowing eyes.

"You know who I am, yes?" the Commander asked calmly.

The insect didn't reply, but simply nodded.

"Let's talk business." The Commander suggested, holding up a datapad contain everything on the Cleanser.

Finally, the insect spoke.

" **We are listening…"**

* * *

**I'm definitely proud of including that little cameo.  
**

**I apologise if the sex scene was short. Got stuck on that multiple times.**

**Now I'm certain this time the next one won't take as long. I've long had the next in the planning, so it should hopefully go smoother.**

**See you soon. Hope to hear some good thigns from you. :)**

**Sorry again for the long wait.**


	18. Chapter 18, The Age of Steel

**I'm very happy with how this one turned out. I got it done quickly, it ended up being way more fun to write than I thought it would, and the action scene were actually quite easy too. How brilliant is that?**

**Title's a bit unoriginal I'll admit, I coudln't really think of a better one, but trust me the chapter makes up for it.**

**I'd also like to thank SpectreFanchin10 for his contributions to this chapter.  
**

**Right, I'll let you enjoy the chapter! :)**

* * *

**YEAR 5, First Blood**

**2177: 5 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**10 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"Months passed, and Hellspawn grew. Their influence was spreading further and further. And to make matters worse, they then brought a game changer into play. Little did we know however of how quickly things could change. It's true what the stories say. He was our enemy, but in time we named him ally. Even friend… and he wasn't even an organic…_

* * *

**Chapter 18**

**The Age of Steel**

Numbers, letters and all kinds of code flashes across the various screens. Technicians, scientists, engineers, all were hard work as the testing went underway.

After the Commander's "deal" with the Collectors, he had instructed his scientists to study the technology he'd been given in exchange for the Cleanser. Already, many breakthroughs had been made from it.

One such breakthrough was already going through it's testing phases.

Below in a massive testing facility overlooked by the main lab just above, were five massive robots. Each one was specially wired up and being controlled remotely. Below also with the robots were several engineers and some other scientists to make sure that everything worked properly without issue.

As the five controllers controlling the robots, known as Exterminators, continued typing away at the controls or adjusting the joysticks, Hellspawn's chief scientists Elsa along with Thornton Arma observed the entire thing.

"How are we looking?" Elsa inquired.

"All diagnostics completed, running tests now, so far all systems are responding perfectly." One of the controllers said.

The Exterminator Units were at least 2.5 metres tall, almost as tall as Hades.

Each one was rather unique in their own way, rather than all looking the same. They were all bipedal and walked upright and all had a similar head design along with some other similar parts, but that was about it.

Exterminator 1 was two legged only. It had no arms at all, in its place only guns with shields either side along with rocket launchers on its back. Some of the scientists had said in fact that it looked almost exactly like a Metal Gear from a popular gaming series of the same name. The similarity was unintentional and it didn't' look exactly the same, but even so.

Exterminator 2 was more humanoid and had arms, but no head. The head was instead a part of the main body

Exterminator 3 was a slightly more advanced version of Exterminator 2. Same body, but this time it had a an actual face. It also had more armour plating as well as heavier guns. As a result though it was the slowest and heaviest of the lot.

Exterminator 4 was an attempts to try to and tone this done in order to achieve better speed and reaction time. Most of its weapons were internal in order to lighten it and was thinner in certain areas to allow more freedom of movement.

And lastly, Exterminator 5, the most recent and most advanced of the lot. It mostly shared the same appearance of Exterminator 4, but had pretty everything more refined. It even had a slightly different body design as well as a different head.

"Hmmm. The response times seem a bit slow." Thornton observed from one of the screens for Exterminator 1.

"I'll see what I can do, Sir." The controller said.

He typed some more buttons as the Exterminator continued to respond to his commands.

"Need I remind you all that we are on a tight schedule here. The Commander is expecting results today. If these work, then so will the others." Elsa said to the others.

The controller piloting Exterminator 5 made the robot give several more turns along with tracking test. As he gave it the command to run its AI diagnostics something strange happened. He wasn't 100% sure, but for a split second a looked like his screen went static before then returning to normal.

"Whoa."

"What just happened?" Elsa asked, having noticed the controller's reaction.

"I don't know. My screen went funny for a moment there. Looks fine now." The controller replied. "Probably just a temporary glitch."

"I don't want any surprises. Run diagnostics again." Elsa ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am."

The controller ran every possible test and diagnostics on his end, yet nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking it must've just bene glitch with the screen, he went back to testing.

As the engineers and scientists continued monitoring the Exterminators up close and taking readings, one particular engineer couldn't help but feel as though Exterminator 5 was looking right at him.

"Uhhh, control? One of the Exterminators is looking at me funny." He said.

Controller 5 noticed this and immediately gave the command for his robot to move. Yet no response.

_"Control?"_

He tried the same command… still though Exterminator 5 didn't move, it continued to stare at the engineer. Had something gone wrong with the signal?

_"Control, cut the crap! You're starting to scare me."_

Twice now he tried to issue a command, but once again Exterminator 5 did not respond. He was about to say that the robot wasn't' responding when he was suddenly interrupted by the robot actually speaking.

"Target identified!"

To everyone's utter astonishment, the robot suddenly grabbed the engineer and threw him to the floor so hard it crushed every bone in his body.

"What the hell?!"

"Controller 5, what the hell did you just do?!" Elsa yelled.

"That wasn't me! The robot's not responding. I've lost control completely!" Controller 5 said, frantically pushing and flicking every possible switch in some hopes of regaining control, but nothing.

Noticing how the robot had now cast it's gaze the other engineers and appeared to be scanning the area in uncertainty, Elsa immediately grabbed a nearby mike.

"ALL ENGINERRS: RED ALERT! WE'VE LOST CONTROL OF EXTERMINATOR 5! I SAY AGAIN, EXTERMIANTOR 5 IS OPERATING WITHOUT REMOTE CONTROL!"

Every engineer and scientist immediately took notice of Exterminator 5 and cautiously started backing away.

"Target acquired!" Exterminator 5 repeated.

It attacked again and grabbed another engineer.

Both scientists and engineers broke into a run. A few stayed in hopes they might be able to help get the robot under control.

"Shut it down!" Elsa yelled to Controller 5.

"I can't. Nothing I try is responding at all. It's locked me out of the system somehow!"

"EXTERMINATOR 5, THIS IS CONTROL. YOU WILL STAND DOWN AND DEACTIVATE IMMEDITELY!" Elsa's voice yelled from the mike.

The robot though paid no attention and continued it's rampage.

"Security to the science lab, now!"

It then charged another engineer who was attempting to flee, knocking him to the floor and at the same time also crushing several control panels.

The downed engineer tried to crawl to safety, but the Exterminator turned back to him, it's metal him hitting right in the face. Another scientist attempted to plant an EMP device on the robot, but it detected him before it got the chance. With one swing of its arm it knocked him right into another control panel.

It then lunged with its arm and the hand practically crushed the poor scientist against the panel. Somehow though, the robot wasn't done him. As two security soldier attempted to fire at the robot, it picked the scientist up and then threw his body to the floor.

"EXTERMINATOR 5, DEACTIVE! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Still though the robot did not respond. More and more security entered the room and opened fire on the robot. It didn't seem to attack back though just yet. It just seemed to once again scan the area as thought it was somehow confused. Elsa was relieved now that it's weapon systems weren't activated. If they were, this would be even worse. Not that she imagined it could get much worse after how quickly it has escalated and got out of hand.

As the robot backed away slightly from the security teams, Elsa made on more attempt.

"IMPUT SHUTDOWN CODE 5846392!"

The robot looked right at her for a brief moment.

"Shutdown code…" it spoke. "REJECTED!"

The robot then cast it's gaze at Exterminator 2.

"Targets identified!"

Almost immediately, it charged, knocking the immobile robot to the ground and then started to crushed and beat at it like a child with a temper tantrum.

"Controller 3, have your Exterminator attack!" Thornton yelled.

"Yes, sir."

Exterminator 3 reactivated and then attacked. The two robots fought each other fiercely, exchanging punches and throws. Despite Exterminator 3's remote piloting however, Exterminator 5 ultimately prevailed.

It then turned its attention to Exterminator 2 and 4 as well. Rather than simply damaging them as it had the others though, it completely destroyed them.

Right as it finished, a new voice was suddenly heard throughout the room.

"Exterminator unit, stand down at once!"

Exterminator 5 turned to look at where the voice had come from. There stood the Commander flanked by his elite guard.

To everyone's utter surprise, the robot actually obeyed.

"Command confirmed."

The robot returned to a stationary standing position and stood down.

"What?!" Elsa said in shock as she and Thornton entered. "It didn't respond to me."

"Exterminator Unit, who do you answer to?" The Commander asked.

"Must obey all Hellspawn high ranking personaaaaaaaaa… ERROR!" Exterminator 5 replied. "Main order directive corrupted. Must obey backup directive: Obey Hellspawn leader only."

"We'll have it dismantled until we find the source of the problem while the others are mended." Said Elsa.

"No. Not yet." Said the Commander. "I saw the way it fought and killed. It's savagery… it's beyond what I expected from a machine."

"It was… not intentional, Sir." Said Elsa, slightly nervous of what the Commander might say next.

"As a combat test, it's certainly proved itself. All it requires is a field test for me to be certain this project is a success." Said the Commander.

"Excuse me, Commander. I must have misheard you. It sounded like you were saying you wanted to send it out on a field test." Elsa said, hoping that she actually had misheard.

"You heard correctly, Elsa." Said the Commander. "Send this one out to hunt down Alpha Squad. See if it can do what it was built for."

"But, Commander… we have no guarantee that it can be controlled!" said Elsa, trying her best to not sound disrespectful.

"Precisely. That will prevent Alpha from trying to hack it. What's more, even if it does go beyond itself, it will not be able to do harm to us from another planet."

"I… I understand, Commander."

"In the meantime, have the damaged ones repaired and continued as planned."

"Yes, sir."

The Commander then turned back to Exterminator 5.

"Exterminator unit, you are being given a new primary objective." He said.

"Awaiting."

"Your objective is to hunt down and eliminate all members of Helldiver Squad Alpha, and any others who stand in your way. Confirm your understanding of this command."

"Command confirmed. New objective: hunt down and eliminate Helldiver squad Alpha!"

* * *

All was quiet in the Hellspawn outpost.

A sniper on one of the rooves couldn't help but enjoy the silence as well as the view as he stood on guard duty.

It was a shame however that his peace of mind was short lived before a figure de-cloaked behind him and stealthily slit his throat.

Ever since the Cleanser had been cured, the last few months for Alpha had been going well. For the next few months, they'd mostly just been taking out various Hellspawn camps or bases. Nothing hugely difficult but it kept them busy at least, so they were content.

As Troy gently set the dead sniper down, he gave the all clear. The rest of Alpha un-cloaked and came out into the open.

Troy turned to find none other than Austin standing behind him as well.

"Troy, nicely done." Alpha's leader said.

"All in a day's work." Troy nodded proudly.

"Shepard, reinforcements incoming!"

Everyone's head whirled round to see a squad of Hellspawn troopers approaching. Nothing Alpha couldn't' handle, despite there being a lot of them.

"Show time!" said Kraan eagerly.

Both sides opened fire on one another, the area quickly becoming an almost mini war zone.

Jumping out from behind cover, Austin unsheathed Excalibur and immediately cut down a nearby trooper. A Hellspawn scout attempted to attack him from behind, but the Helldiver spun and impaled the scout on his sword.

From nearby higher ground , a Hellspawn sniper watched the entire thing, shocked at how quickly two of his comrades had fallen. He was about to take a shot when he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his back before his vision went dark.

Troy withdrew his combat knife from the snipers back and kicked the body off the edge.

It was as the spy turned to his left however, he suddenly noticing he'd been spotted by a Hellspawn brute, who was banging his fists together.

"You, yes you. You are dead."

"Not today, big boy." Said Troy, swiftly drawing one of his pistols and firing a single shot that went right through the brute's head and even took out another Hellspawn sniper.

A Hellspawn trooper attempted to retreat, but Kraan was quick to act and fired a rocket which obliterated the trooper in a single explosion. A nearby Hellspawn Pyro noticed this and turned his attention to Kraan.

The Krogan immediately fired another rocket. The Pyro however was prepared for this and fired a compression blast of fuel from his flamethrower, causing the rocket to be deflected.

Kraan immediately went for cover as the Pyro then fired a flame burst. Normally Helldivers were shielded from fire, but Hellspawn Pyro's had special fire that actually could damage a Helldiver. It was anyone's guess how Hellspawn had managed to come up with this, but they'd obviously found a way.

"Got a pyro pinning me down here!" Kraan said into his comm.

"Who wants some of this?"

Both Kraan and the pyro's head turned to suddenly see Dash running right at the Pyro. Before the pyro could react in time, Dash suddenly went into a slide which tripped the pyro and caused him to land on his back. Before he even got a chance to get back up, Dash fired two shots into his head with his pistols.

Dash turned to Kraan and simply gave an acknowledging nod.

"Not bad, kid." Said Kraan approvingly.

Dash then returned to the main fight at hand, jumping on the heads of three more Hellspawn troopers, finishing each on with a shot to the head.

This time from a nearby roof, another sniper observed the fight. Carefully and calmly, he began seeking for Dash, intending to kill the scout dead.

Right as he thought he caught sight of Dahs however, the Scout's helmet suddenly popped up in front of his scope. Acting on instinct, the sniper fired. Dash however, immediately dropped out of sight and the shot missed.

Before the sniper had time to react, Dash grabbed the sniper rifle and forced it back, causing the butt of the sniper rifle to hit it's user right in the face and his grip to loosen. Throwing the sniper rifle away, Dash then grabbed him.

"Hey, Hawk! Here's one for you!"

The Scout then threw the sniper off the roof and into the air, right as a sniper round shot right through the sniper's head.

"Bullseye!" Hawk smiled to himself, never once taking his eye away from his sniper scope as he searched for a new target.

Only the squad leader remained now. He was shocked almost in panic when he saw the dead body of the sniper land next to him.

The momentary distraction allowed Austin an opening and moved forward until he was right behind cover where the squad leader was. Before the squad leader even had a chance, Austin grabbed him, pulled him over cover, threw him to the floor, activated his omni blade and with one swift stab, the squad leader was dead.

With the coast clear, everyone went about their business of clearing the place up and leaving no evidence they'd been here.

"Well, I guess that's that." Said Leena, breathing a sigh of relief.

Austin couldn't help but notice Troy looking a little uneasy.

"You alright, Troy?" he asked.

"I don't' know about you, Mon ami. But that felt too easy." Troy replied.

"Take it as a sign that we're winning, Troy." Said Dash, lazily relaxing on a nearby crate.

Austin then turned to Leena who was accessing the site's main computer.

"Leena, what've you got on the intel?" he asked.

"Nothing special, really." Leena replied. "Just a lot of messages between Hellspawn operatives."

She skimmed through several more data streams before her eyes caught something.

"Hmm, now this is interesting." She said, bring up various reports on the monitor. "There's been a lot of talk about something new going on. Hellspawn is pursuing new research. The reports claim that what they're doing is going to turn the tide for them. A weapon, to surpass… us."

Austin was about to inquire further before the constant sound of metallic footsteps interrupted him.

"What the…?"

All of Alpha squad went immediately on alert, their guns raised as they looked around, trying to locate the source of the noise.

The footsteps seemed to get louder and louder, as if whatever was making them was getting closer.

Suddenly, from behind Austin, a large metal arm burst through the wall and grabbed him. As the metal arm threw Austin to the floor, the body the arm belonged to then burst through the wall as well.

Exterminator 5 swung at Austin, first with it's left and then right fist. Austin was able to roll and avoid both attacks though.

As the Helldiver avoided the robot's right hand strike, he swung and attempted to hit the robot's face with the butt of his assault rifle. Sadly, it barely made a dent.

Exterminator 5 attempted to grab Austin with both hands, but the Helldiver cast his rifle between them. Exterminator 5 did though succeed in pinning Austin to the floor again. Quickly reacting to this, Exterminator 5 then hauled Austin up by the rifle and then threw him.

The sheer force of the throw was enough to make Austin let go of his rifle and he was sent flying.

Exterminator 5 meanwhile turned its attention to the rest of Alpha, who had been watching shock.

"What the hell is that thing?!" said Dash.

"Targets: identified. Commencing extermination!"

As Exterminator 5 began advancing, a sentry gun that Leena had placed during the fight earlier opened fire. The robot however seemed to just ignore it and simply stepped on it like an insect under a boot.

"I just built that!" Leena complained.

This was quickly met however with an uppercut from Exterminator 5 which sent Leena flying all the way into another building.

Exterminator 5 then swung, swiping Kraan's minigun and Sandra's assault rifle out of her hands. Before the two Helldivers could react in time, Exterminator 5 then grabbed Sandra and threw her away as well.

Turning its attention to Dash, Exterminator 5 then activated the rocket launchers on it's forearms and fired. Just when it looked like the rockets were going to hit Dash however, Troy quickly tackled Dash to the ground and the rockets missed. Instead they impacted near to where Leena had managed to re-join the battle. Although they missed, the sheer force of the blast was enough to send her flying again, and this time when she hit a nearby wall it knocked her out.

"You'll pay for that!" Hawke yelled as he aimed with his sniper and fired.

The shot hit Exterminator 5 right in the head… but it simply ricocheted off and hit the wall right next to where Hawk was standing.

"Oh come on!" Hawk cursed.

Exterminator 5 charged, smashing Alaara aside in the process. Dash immediately broke into a run, firing a few shots from his pistols as he went.

Troy also got off a few shots before going into cover. As Exterminator 5 slowed to a halt, the minigun mounted on its back activated and started to fire, forcing everyone else to take cover. Hawk only just managed to get behind something in time as one shot hit a part of his armour. It went through, but didn't go through any skin at least. Hawk definitely considered himself lucky.

With everyone pinned down, Dash was forced to use extreme measures. He brought up his omni tool and activated an adrenal burst. Though that was normally used by soldiers, Dash found it had advantages for him too. Because it sped him up mentally, combined with his Armor's speed boost, it gave him quite the tactical advantage.

As the boost kicked in, everything slowed down around Dash as his brain speed increased.

He then ran out of cover, right into the minigun fire. Because everything was much slower now of course, he could react to the bullets before they hit him. Physically, he still moved at normal speed, but that didn't matter to him.

He ducked, dodged, flipped and slid around every single bullet until he was close enough. He then leapt onto high ground right as the adrenaline boost wore off and Exterminator 5's minigun ran out of ammo.

Barely giving the robot a chance to reload, Dash then leapt onto Exterminator 5's head. The robot immediately reacted and tried to throw him.

"Guys, now! While it's distracted!" Dash yelled, holding on tightly while he avoided Exterminator 5's arms.

With Troy having helped Austin back up, the rest of Alpha attacked. They employed the tactic of surrounding Exterminator 5 and attacking from all around. The robot however swiped at them quite a few times while still trying to grab at Dash. One of those swipes even hit Ventra in the helmet, knocking the Turian onto his back.

Kraan fired a rocket, but to everyone's surprise Exterminator 5 caught the projectile in its right hand. It then threw the rocket right back at Kraan and landed right at his feet.

"Oh fu…"

The rocket exploded, sending Kraan flying.

Troy attacked from the back and fired several shots, getting Exterminator 5's attention.

As the robot turned however, it found a rather unexpected figure standing in Troy's place.

"Stand down!" the Commander ordered.

Exterminator 5 however did not obey. It immediately grabbed the Commander by the neck, causing Troy's disguise to drop.

The Spy had had a feeling that wouldn't work. A robot like this could easily see through his disguise. After all, the tech used for his disguises was only meant to fool humans, not AI's and mechs.

With its other hand, Exterminator 5 then grabbed Troy's head. The Spy struggled to break free of the robots grip as it gave one mighty pull… ripping his head of completely.

It was then however that Exterminator 5 detected an external anomaly had been planted on it's hip. The robot looked to see… Troy planting a jammer device.

At it turned out, the Troy that Exterminator 5 had supposedly killed had just been another of Troy's illusions. The spy was surprised actually that the decoy had fooled the robot while the earlier one hadn't. Perhaps this decoy was better that he'd thought.

"Surprise." Troy said as he placed the jammer.

Exterminator 5 however barely gave the jammer any time at all and grabbed it in one hand. Without any hesitation whatsoever, it crushed the device, letting the now useless piece of equipment fall at Troy's feet, leaving the Spy both disappointed and bewildered.

Dash meanwhile, who was still hanging on to Exterminator 5's back, managed to pull out one of his pistols and attempted to shoot the robots head at point blank range. As before with Hawk however, the rounds did nothing.

Exterminator 5 then gave threw itself back violently, the force of which caused Dash to lose his grip and he was sent flying into a nearby crate.

"How the hell do we stop this thing?!" the scout yelled.

Ventra, who had managed to recover from being knocked down earlier, fired several EMP arrows. Unlike bullets, they actually remained attached to Exterminator 5's exterior, but they didn't' have desired effect. The torso appeared to be completely shielded, and each limb had its own separate power source. Despite that one arm was disabled thanks to two arrows, the robot simply used the weapons on its other arm to shoot the EMP arrows off and it's arm reactivated.

Exterminator 5 reacted and grabbed the Turian by the leg, even as he still fired arrows, spun, and then threw him high into the air and away from the battle.

From behind cover, Hawk fired several more sniper shots at Exterminator 5's head, but once again they didn't do any damage at all. Hawk was just able to dive out of the way as Exterminator 5 fired another rocket which destroyed the crate he'd been behind earlier.

Austin meanwhile had also snuck up behind. Drawing Excalibur, he leapt onto Exterminator 5's back and plunged the blade in. To his surprise and relief, the Kartalrium sword actually managed to cut through the robot's armour. When he tried to pull it out however, the blade wouldn't come out. It was stuck.

Austin swore as he tried to pull the sword out, but still no luck. One upside though at least was that the robot couldn't attack him from here, even with its rotatable shoulder gun.

But it seemed however that Exterminator 5 had yet another trick up its sleeve. The robot cast it's arms downwards as thrusters kicked into life, attached to both the arms and the legs. It didn't' take Austin long to realise what was happening.

"No, no, nooooooooo!"

Normally, he would've just let go, but there was no way he was leaving Excalibur embedded in this robot, especially if Exterminator 5 was using it's thrusters to retreat. He was not going to lose this sword, regardless of what happened to him. Far as he was concerned, he would die **with** this sword, never without it.

The thrusters full force kicked in and Exterminator 5 was propelled into the air, with Austin on it's back.

As Exterminator 5's altitude increased every second, Austin made one final desperate attempt to pull Excalibur out. There was a sudden loud tear of metal and he only just managed to keep himself from falling as the sword finally come out, much to Austin's' relief.

Wasting no time, he immediately started to attacking at Exterminator 5's thrusters. The robot immediately realized they were both offline as it started to fall back down. As the two fell, Austin attempted to hack at Exterminator 5's head. His sword did appear to leave some dents, but not cause any huge damage.

He only managed about 4 hits before the robot then head-butted him, causing the Helldiver to end up falling through the roof of one building, while Exterminator 5 fell through another one.

Alpha were quickly beginning to realise that they were clearly outmatched by this robot. As they helped Austin back onto his feet, they could hear Exterminator 5 trying to get free of the large amounts of metal it had become buried under.

"Overseer, this is Alpha, we need immediate Evac right now! You've got seconds before this thing frees itself." Austin panted into his comm.

 _"We're on our way, Alpha!"_ Telrass replied.

Bruised and beaten, Alpha quickly lit a flare so that Alexa knew where to pick them up. They just hoped she'd be there in time. The constant banging of Exterminator 5 freeing itself was getting less frequent. If it got free before they were out of there, the robot would destroy the dropship and then they'd be really screwed.

Normal procedure was to clear hot zone before evacuating, but Alpha were barely able to stand their own against this robot. They no choice to retreat now and fight this thing another day.

To everyone's relief, the gunship soon flew into view and dropped just enough that all of Alpha were able to get on board.

"We're in. Get us out of here, Alexa!" Austin yelled as he helped a bruised Kraan in.

The gunship immediately gained momentum and flew off… just as Exterminator 5 tore through the building it had landing in.

With its thrusters damaged, the robot could not pursue. But the gunship remained within the robot's field of vision long enough for it be to scanned… and tracked.

* * *

Elsa dared not look at the Commander, fearing that he'd shoot her or something. They had just witnessed the whole thing through Exterminator 5's video uplink.

"Sir, I…" she tried to say.

"I'm impressed." The Commander interrupted, much to Elsa's surprise.

"Sir?"

"Exterminator 5 practically had Alpha at its mercy for most of that fight. They even retreated because they knew they couldn't win." Said the Commander.

"I'm… pleased to hear that, Commander." Said Elsa, still unsure if she really was hearing this right.

"Alpha may have escaped for now, but we fully know where they're going, as does Exterminator 5."

"Shall we have it pursue, sir?"

"Not yet. Bring it back here for repairs and upgrades first." The Commander ordered. "When next it fights Alpha, I want it to have everything at its disposal."

* * *

"This is unlike any mech or machine we've ever seen before. Even heavy mechs aren't anywhere near as advanced as you described this thing."

Alpha stood before the Arkane Council as they delivered their report of what had happened. Exterminator 5's sudden appearance had all of the Arkanes worried. The fact that this thing had stood up to an entire squad of fully trained Helldivers, had held their own, and actually managed to have almost every advantage over them was definitely enough to make them frightened.

"It's Hellspawn. It has to be." Said Leena. "Who else would make something like this?"

"They created a plague that kills aliens, who's to say they haven't been looking into robot research?!" said Ventra.

"Whatever it is, it's clearly hostile." Said Councillor Tarnack. "Alpha, we need you to…"

She was interrupted however by a constant alarm.

"A perimeter breach alert?" Troy said in surprise.

"No… No, it can't possibly have followed us here!" said Austin.

"Security, what's going on?!" Spartan asked.

All he got however was static audio with only a few occasional audible sounds, and all of them were sounds of screaming and gunfire. Eventually, the comm channel just went dead completely.

"Council, it's obviously here for us. Our priority right now must be to make sure it doesn't reach you." Said Austin as he and Alpha drew their weapons. "We'll draw it away from the capital."

"Agreed. We'll have the capital evacuated. The civilians must be protected as well." Said Spartan.

* * *

Alpha were soon on of the glass cylinder balconies overlooking the massive hall beneath them.

A small army of Helldivers were gathered below, all their guns trained don't the entrance.

A sudden loud bang made Alpha stop as the whole place shook. Then they saw the door being bent inwards. Exterminator 5 was forcing it's way inside. Several more metal bangs followed before the door was blown completely off it's hinges, just narrowly avoiding the Helldivers.

"Activate internal defence lasers. Slice it up!" the leader ordered.

A large grid of lasers activated in front of the door. The dust cleared to sure enough revealed Exterminator 5. True enough, it had bene upgraded sine last time. It had a few extra weapons along with some extra armour plating here and there.

The robot froze for a moment as it observed the laser grid in front of it. For a moment, Alpha thought it was beat. That hope however was quickly dashed. Within just a few seconds, the grid then suddenly flashed and off several time before disappearing completely.

"Defences have gone offline! That thing's overridden the lot." One of the Helldivers said.

Exterminator 5 gently managed to force its way through the low down door and it was soon inside, the small army of Helldivers standing before it. It did not attack instantly yet, for a long moment it simply stared at them blankly.

"Unidentified machine, you will stand down and surrender immediately!" the Helldiver demanded.

Alpha could only stare from the balcony as they watched the whole thing.

Exterminator 5 still did not respond or attack. It just kept staring at the Helldivers, it's head only occasionally turning back and forth as it scanned them all.

After not getting a response after at least 20 seconds, the Helldiver leader spoke again.

"We demand that you surrender! Is that understood?!"

There was a long silence… and finally Exterminator 5 replied.

"EXTERMINATE!"

The robot's shoulder mounted gun aimed and fired a beam of some kind right at the Helldiver leader. The very second it touched his armour, he screamed in pain. Everyone watched in horror as both he and his armour were completely vaporised.

"Open fire!"

The entire army all opened fire. Each shot hit their target, but as Alpha had discovered before, they did no damage whatsoever. Every single round either bounced off or ricocheted.

Exterminator 5 raised both its arms and began firing even more beams. Helldiver after Helldiver screamed in pain as their own armour vaporised them.

"Get to cover!" one of them yelled.

The Helldiver found what cover they could and continued firing. Some even flanked Exterminator 5 and attack from all sides.

To compensate for its blind spots, Exterminator 5's shoulder gun rotated and continued firing beams at Helldivers attacking from the back. Soon it became 3 beams per second until the entire room was full of beams. Under different circumstances it would've made a good looking disco.

More Helldivers screamed as they were vaporised. Eventually it was down to just two.

"Down! Get down!" one of them yelled as he picked up a rocket launcher.

He fired and the shot hit Exterminator 5 dead on. The explosion of the rocket caused so much smoke that it was impossible to see what had happened.

Several long seconds passed, and nothing.

The two Helldivers relaxed. They'd managed to beat this thing.

Just as they were about to relax however, two beams shot out of the smoke and hit the Helldivers, vaporising them instantly.

"No! Alaara screamed.

The smoke cleared, revealing Exterminator 5. The best the rocket had done was just cause it to stagger slightly. The robot gently stood back up and scanned the area.

"Hostiles: terminated." It said.

It then cast it's gaze upward and spotted Alpha.

"Targets: located. Commencing Extermination!"

It raised its guns fired several more beams.

Alpha immediately recoiled back by reflex, hoping somehow that the beams might miss them.

To their utter surprise however, they didn't.

Instead the beams were actually blocked by the glass. Alpha watched in surprise as beam after beam simply impacted on the glass.

Exterminator 5 soon stopped upon realizing that the beams weren't working. It simply stared at Alpha for a few seconds before finally walking off out of sight.

"Now what the hell do we do?! Nothing can stop this thing!" said Hawk.

Austin took a moment to think. There had to be something. There had to be something they hadn't tried yet that just might damage the robot somehow. True his sword could breach the armour, but only if lunged in, not to mention there was a good chance of it just getting stuck again.

Then an idea struck him. He had to admit, it was crazy… but at this point he and the squad were desperate.

"Wouldn't be so sure of that just yet." He said. "If we lure that thing to furnaces in the factory, that might give us a chance."

"Crazy idea, boss… but I'm all for crazy ideas." Said Kraan.

* * *

With the capital evacuated, getting to the factory section of Arkadia was easy. It was right as they were all entering the furnace area however that they suddenly heard heavy metal footsteps.

They all turned to see Exterminator 5 rounding the corner. The moment it saw them, it charged.

Alpha immediately reacted and shut the door, locking it as best they could.

"That won't hold it. You know that, right?" said Ventra as the robot kept banging on the door, each breaking the locks.

"Doesn't need to. Only needs to buy us enough time." Said Austin as he and Alpha got into position.

After several more bangs, the lock was finally broken completely and the doors blew open.

Exterminator 5 slowly stepped into the furnace room and began looking around.

"Scanning for targets."

Despite this however, it's scan failed to pick anything up. It kept getting interference. Realizing its scanner was useless, Exterminator 5 advanced forward again slowly, gently looking left to right.

"Good. I was hoping that would work. The magnetism of the metals in this place is disrupting its scanner." Austin said quietly.

"But that'll mean we can't detect it either if it comes within our proximity." Said Sandra.

"Then use your eyes, the old fashioned way." Said Hawk.

Exterminator 5 continued its way in-between the furnaces, still constantly scanning the area for its prey.

It was almost close enough. It just needed to take a few more steps…

"Wait until its close enough…" said Austin.

A sudden loud sound however attracted Exterminator 5's attention. Sandra had accidently kicked a toolbox while she'd been moving to different cover.

"Shit!"

Exterminator 5 looked directly at Sandra and spotted her. Immediately reacting, it attacked. Unable to get a clear shot at her, it instead swung at her with its arms. Sandra managed to avoid the first swing and attempted to run. But the robot was install there, blocking her way.

"SANDRA! NO!" Alaara yelled.

Exterminator 5 raised its arm and brought it down hard.

There was a loud clang…

Sandra opened her eyes and looked to see none other than Alaara standing by her side with a biotic field surrounding the both of them.

Exterminator 5 beat down on the shield several more times, still with no luck. Realizing that this attack wasn't doing anything at all, the robot resorted to a new attack.

A compartment on its chest slid open and a different kind of beam weapon fired at Alaara's biotic shield.

To the shock of both Sandra and Alaara, the biotic shield was completely disintegrated. The overload proved too much for Alaara and she was knocked unconscious, falling into Sandra's arms.

"Alaara?!"

Exterminator 5 raised its arm once again and brought it down hard. Sandra held Alaara close and shut her eyes, accepting the inevitable.

There was another loud clang of metal, but Sandra didn't feel and pain. When she opened her eyes she saw none other than Kraan standing over them and blocking Exterminator 5's arm.

"Go! Go!" the Krogan grunted, using all the strength he had to push against the robot's arm.

Sandra didn't waste any time and immediately picked up Alaara and carried her to safety.

Kraan meanwhile began pushing up against Exterminator 5's arm even more. Eventually it got to the point where he was fully standing up. He noticed too late however the hand reaching for him.

Using its free hand, Exterminator 5 grabbed Kraan and the threw him, causing the Krogan to crash through several stacked material crates.

"Alaara, are you alright?" Austin asked as Sandra set the Asari down.

"Yeah. Just need a moment to get my energy back." Alaara panted.

Austin nodded and joined the fight.

As Exterminator 5 smashed aside a crate, it scanned the area for Kraan. Right as it caught sight of the Krogan however it suddenly saw what he was stood next to.

With a hard push from Kraan, the hook on the crane he'd been stood next to shot forward, hitting Exterminator 5 hard in the head and causing it to fall flat on its back.

As Austin re-joined the fight he suddenly noticing someone else running right past him, but it wasn't any member of Alpha. In fact, it was someone Alpha hadn't seen for a while.

"Xun!"

As Exterminator 5 picked itself up, the Chinese Helldiver attacked, throwing her metal fan at it like a boomerang. The fan hit the robot's head multiple times, even making a few scratches before it finally came back to Xun's hand. She then landed next to Austin.

"What's the plan, Shep…"

She was interrupted however when Hawk was suddenly thrown past them and smashed against a nearby crate.

"Hey!" Austin yelled.

The second he said that however, Exterminator 5 then smacked him aside.

Next it swung at Xun as well. Unlike the others however, she actually dodged the attack. Pretty much every swing and strike the robot attempted she flipped over, wove around or ducked under.

After several failed attacks, Exterminator 5 then resorted to using its weapons. It fired beam after beam at Xun.

However unlike before, the beams failed to actually touch Xun. With almost lighting reflexes she blocked each beam by using either the blade of her sword or her metal fan.

All the while, Leena was attempting to sneak up from behind in hopes she might be able to somehow gain access to the robot's systems.

The Quarian Helldiver however did not count on Exterminator 5's shoulder gun having it's own eye and it spotted her. The robot immediately turned to look right at her.

"Oh fuck."

Exterminator 5 grabbed her by the neck and hauled her up. Acting quickly though, Leena immediately planted an EMP device on the robot's arm causing it to become momentarily disabled. It's grip loosened and it dropped her.

The Quarian wasted no time and ran to cover just as Exterminator 5 destroyed the EMP device and its arm reactivated.

"This isn't going well, Shepard." She said, taking cover next to Austin and just narrowly avoiding one of Exterminator 5's beam.

"I agree. We've got to find some way to disable its weapon systems, otherwise we're done for." Said Austin.

"If you can keep him distracted just long enough then I can get on its back and slice in." said Leena.

"You heard her, Alpha. Try and distract it long enough for Leena to get on its back, but don't' get caught by those beams!" Austin said into his comm.

Alpha attacked from all side, drawing Exterminator 5's attention. Leena saw her opening and acted immediately. She ran and leapt onto the robot's back.

"Well, Leena seems to be on top of things." Said Dash.

Exterminator 5 immediately took notice of the muscular Quarian on its back and immediately began trying to shake her off. All the while, Leena used both her tech skills and extreme strength to force open a panel on the robot's back.

After just a few pulls, despite the robot's constant struggling, Leena finally managed to tear the panel off exposing Exterminator 5's power core and systems.

"There you are. Light's out, boshtet!"

The Quarian activated her omni tool and plunged it in. A far stronger EMP burst was sent through Exterminator 5's power core. The robot spasmed several times, but it did not shut down and continued its struggle. One thing the EMP did manage to do was somehow cause the robot's weapon systems to malfunction. That still didn't mean good news though as the malfunction suddenly caused the weapons to all activated and go haywire. Vaporising beams, rocket, and bullets went flying all over the place.

Austin just managed to push Dash out of the way as he deflected one of Exterminator 5's beams with his sword, causing it to bounce off and hit nearby wall.

"Leena, what are you waiting for?! Turn it off!" Austin yelled/

"It won't turn off!" said Leena, holding on for dear life as Exterminator 5 constantly tried to shake her off.

In a desperate attempt Leena reached in and pulled at what wires she could, snapping them completely. Eventually, to her utter relief, that seemed to do the trick. After pulling out one in-particular wire, all of Exterminator 5's weapons stopped completely.

"Weapon system malfunction. Full restoration in 2 minutes." The robot said.

It also took notice of Leena still trying to shut it down.

"Initiating countermeasures."

A high amount of voltage coursed through the robots body, electrocuting Leena.

"NOT AGAIN!" the Quarian screamed in pain.

Her armour protected her from the high voltage, but that didn't stop it from hurting.

With the Quarian unable to react this time, Exterminator 5 brought up both its arms, grabbed her, and threw her off. The robot stared emotionlessly right at her as she picked herself up, still a little shaky after her shocking experience.

Realizing Leena was still weak, Dash quickly jumped in-between her and Exterminator 5.

"You want her, you've gotta catch me first, bucket head!" he said.

Exterminator 5 immediately attacked with both arms, but Dash was able to use his speed boost to avoid both of them. A sudden thrust from the robot however he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid and the blade on its arm ended up cutting his arm.

The robot thrust again, but this time Dash slid under it. When the robot turned to face the Scout it instantly found not just him, but also Kraan standing before it.

Kraan immediately used all the strength his suit could give him and head-butted Exterminator 5 so hard that it crashed into one of the massive furnaces, denting the side.

Kraan couldn't help but grin in triumph at having just done that. But his joy was short lived as the robot picked itself back up, its gaze now fully focused on Kraan.

"I think you only pissed it off." Said Dash.

Exterminator 5 charged, as did Kraan. From the robot's point of view it was doing all sorts of calculations in the brief seconds it had. Kraan's speed, strength, reaction time, the force of his charge, velocity and also the exact time to strike when he would be vulnerable. Within 0.25 seconds, all calculations were done. Exterminator 5 knew exactly where to hit Kraan and at exactly what time.

"Target locked!"

Right as Kraan was about to charge head-first into Exterminator 5, it suddenly swung it's arm with such speed and force that it caught him completely off guard. The arm knocked Kraan right into several pipes which broke from the force of his impact and fell.

Kraan was able move out of the way as the massive metal pipes fell in Exterminator 5's direction. The robot however reacted just as fast and rolled to the side out of the way.

Its sights focussed on Dash and it broke into another charge.

"Dash, run!" Kraan yelled.

Dash just managed to jump out of the way as Exterminator 5 charged past him. It was quick though to turn around and continue charging at him again. Dash immediately broke into a run, sprinting harder than he'd ever done in his life.

Realizing that soon he was going to hit a wall, Dash quickly jumped onto the nearest walkway he could find, despite the fact it was right next to one of the furnaces.

Exterminator 5 however was quick to follow and jumped. The force of it's landing on the balcony caused Dash to trip. Just before the robot could deliver its strike however Kraan suddenly jumped in front. He blocked both Exterminator 5's hands with his own. He tried his best to push against the robot, but its strength was just too much. It kept on pushing and pushing, Kraan's feet slid on the metal floor as they failed to find any grip. Kraan was also made aware of the boiling furnace behind him which the robot appeared to be pushing him towards. If he fell in, his armour was sure to melt. These furnaces after all were almost as hot as the sun. They had to be in order to properly melt down the metals in them.

Kraan felt the back of his feet reach the very edge and a part of the railings gave way as his back was pushed against it. Kraan tried to push harder, but all he did was low his skidding down. One more push from Exterminator 5 and that would be the end of him.

Kraan roared as though he was to make one final attempt to somehow overpower the robot, but he ended up doing something completely different. The Krogan swiftly moved to the side and pulled hard on the robots arms. Combined with Exterminator 5's push, the pull then turned into a throw which sent the robot plummeting right into the almost lava like substance.

Kraan watched as the robot sunk into the metal, unable to struggle at all. Within just a few seconds it was completely submerged. It was over.

"HA! And good riddance!" the Krogan cheered.

"Kraan… I so take back everything I said about you now." Dash panted with relief.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't go all mushy on me now." Kraan grinned.

Right as he helped Dash up however, and enormous mass burst right out of the furnace.

"OH YOU'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" said Dash in disbelief.

Sure enough, there was Exterminator 5, boiling hot liquid metal dripping off as it fully emerged from the furnace and climbed back onto the walkway. Despite glowing red hot, it was completely undamaged.

Kraan immediately pushed Dash behind him and opened fire with his minigun as they backed away. He knew there was no chance of it doing any damage whatsoever, but he somehow hoped it might. The Krogan roared in agony as shot after shot fired only to once again bounce off the robot's armour.

Practically ignoring the rounds hitting it, Exterminator 5 raised both its arms and brought them down hard. The force of the impact shook the entire walkway so much that the part of it that Kraan and Dash had been stood on broke away completely and fell, taking the two Helldivers with it.

Exterminator 5 quickly followed, jumping down from the walkway. It quickly resumed its attack on Kraan and Dash and raised both it arms for the killing blow.

It was only as the two Helldivers recovered that they noticed the two metal arms coming down on them... only to then be blocked by two swords.

Both Austin and Xun had appeared just in time and had blocked both Exterminator 5's arms with their swords. Both struggled severely against the robot's immense strength, but they were managing to hold it back.

"You… will not… hurt my friends." Xun grunted.

Troy and Hawk noticed the struggle. They had to do something to help. It was as Hawk looked around he soon noticed something above Exterminator 5.

"Troy, I've got an idea." He said.

"Xun, if we are to fall to fall in battle to this thing, I want you to know… I'm glad its together." Austin said through gritted teeth as he continued pushing against Exterminator 5's arm.

"Likewise, my friend." Said Xun.

"You two, move!"

The two Helldiver looked to see Hawk aiming his sniper rifle at a weak spot on the furnace they were standing next to.

Realizing what he was gonna do, they both disengaged and leapt out of the way.

Troy fired.

Exterminator 5 noticed too late as more molten metal poured out of the hole Hawk had just made in the furnace and it landed on the robot.

"We just tried that!" Kraan yelled as the robot slowly stood back up, completely unaffected as before.

"What about this?!" Troy yelled as he also fired.

But he didn't shoot at the furnace or Exterminator 5. He shot at an overhanging pipe.

Liquid nitrogen shot right out onto the robot. Immediately, the hot metal began to freeze. Exterminator 5 struggled to move as the metal still dripping from it began to harden. It attempted another attack on the Helldivers, but it never got the chance. The metal eventually froze completely, freezing the robot with it.

Everyone took a deep sigh of relief.

"Nice thinking, you two." Austin panted.

"Don't thank me just yet, Shepard." Said Troy. "That won't hold it for very long. I've bought us time at most."

Sure enough, shards of the frozen metal began to break off. Exterminator 5 was vibrating itself enough that the metal was slowly shattering.

"We're gonna need bigger guns." Said Kraan, readying himself for another fight.

A realization hen hit Dash.

He immediately took out the Hellraiser's remote and pressed the summon button.

Everyone noticed this of course.

"You really think the extra firepower will make any difference?" said Leena.

"It's worth a shot. Besides, what other choice do we have?" Dash replied. "It'll take a few seconds before the Hellraiser arrives."

"We don't have that time." Said Austin, swapping his word for his assault rifle. "Alpha, spread out and stick to cover as much as you can. Keep it distracted and draw its fire until the Hellraiser arrives."

Everyone nodded and took cover from all sides. At least this way they'd have Exterminator 5 surrounded and it would be forced to shoot in all directions.

Sure enough, the metal finally shattered completely, freeing the robot.

"Weapon systems: restored! Reengaging targets!" it said.

"Give him hell, Alpha!" Austin yelled.

The whole factory became a blaze with gunfire, rockets and beams. Alpha stuck mostly to cover fire or blind firing where they could whilst mostly avoiding Exterminator 5's beams. The ones with swords even managed to deflect many of them. Some even got deflected right back at the robot but they did no damage.

The constant explosions and suppressing fire eventually began tot take their toll on Alpha. They were all starting to run low on ammo, and Kraan was running out of weapons.

"We're getting our asses kicked out there." Kraan groaned.

There was a sudden loud crash and one of the nearby walls collapsed. Alpha had never been happier to see the Hellraiser as it skidded to a halt. Dash wasted no time and leapt into the tank's cockpit.

"Time to fight firepower… with even more firepower." He said.

_"Battle mode engaged!"_

The Hellraiser once again transformed and immediately opened fire. Exterminator 5 immediately took notice and focused it's fire on the tank.

"Now's our chance. Give it all you've got!" Austin yelled.

Everyone once again opened concentrated fire as the Hellraiser strafed and boosted from side to side as it avoided most of Exterminator 5's attacks. Its 60mm meanwhile fired shot after shot. Every single one hit the robot… and they actually did some damage. With each hit, the robot was actually knocked back and staggered.

With each hit, the robots chest became more and more damaged. In one last attempt, Exterminator 5 fire da charged beam from its chest. The Hellraiser though boosted to the side and fired one final shot.

The shot hit Exterminator 5 right in the power core. The robot staggered back a few steps… and finally fell.

Everyone waited for a while to be absolutely sure before they finally relaxed and came out of cover. They still kept their guns trained on the robots fallen body though to be safe.

"Nice shot, Dash." Sandra panted.

"I have my moments." The scout said proudly as he exited the Hellraiser and it switched back to Super Pursuit mode.

Austin took several cautious steps up to the fallen body. He then gently poked it with the tip of his sword… nothing.

"At ease, Alpha. It's definitely dead now." He said in relief.

At the same time several more Helldivers, lead by General Zartrack, entered the factory.

"Alpha, are you alright?" the General asked.

"We're okay, General." Said Dash. He then thought of the perfect line to say. "Enemy's been… exterminated."

"Very funny, Dash." Austin sighed.

"Get the science division and engineers to analyse it fully. I want to know exactly what this thing is and who built it." Zartrack ordered as he looked bitterly on Exterminator 5's body.

* * *

The body was being thoroughly examined and scanned by the best Arkadian scientists. They were most astonished by the results.

"I can't understand where Hellspawn got the technology to make this thing. It's decades ahead of mech technology, and the AI this thing has is one of the most advanced I've ever seen. Some of this technology shouldn't even exist." Said Leena.

"I guess they're not only more advanced, but also smarter than we thought. The reports weren't lying when they said it was a weapon to surpass us." Said Austin.

"That thing killed hundreds of our best soldiers and walked away without barely even a scratch." Said Hawk bitterly.

"I don't know which is worse, the fact that Hellspawn figured out a way to kill us using our own armour, or that they built something more advanced than our armour." Said Sandra.

"Dare I ask, I don't suppose there's any data in this thing that tells us where it was manufactured?" Alaara asked.

"I'm afraid not…" said Leena as the scientists continued their scans. But then they spotted something… out of the ordinary. "Now that's interesting."

"What is it?"

"There's no safeguards or user restrictions on this thing. The Ai is deactivated thanks to you, but its core functions are exposed." One of the scientists explained.

"Well that shouldn't be possible. I tried to hack it before and it didn't respond." Said Leena.

"Looks like the damage it sustained in its fight with you has had something to do with this." Said the scientist.

"Even so, I don't think it's a good idea to turn the AI back on, even if just to interrogate it." Said Alaara.

"So what are we gonna do with this… robot, then?" Sandra asked.

"It pretty much belongs to the science division now. Besides, something as advanced as this would be invaluable." Said Austin. "They can dismantle it or whatever they plan to do."

"If I may, Shepard? Perhaps there may be another option." Leena interjected.

"You have something in mind, Leena?" Austin asked.

"The scientists just said that the AI is directly exposed now, yes?"

"Yes?"

"So, perhaps now there's the possibility that it can be reprogrammed. This thing killed hundreds of Helldivers, yes. But imagine the mayhem it could give Hellspawn if it was on our side."

"You want to reactivate this thing?!" Hawk asked in shock.

"After it's been reprogrammed of course." Leena replied.

"That's still crazy, Leena! You don't even know if you **can** reprogram it." Hawk objected.

I've been hacking and reprogramming AI's since I was a teenager, Hawk. Re programming something like this will be easy for me."

"Okay, suppose you do succeed in reprogramming it. What if it somehow has a backup and rejects the changes you makes, or what if it gets into Arkadia's systems? Remember how much damage Trojan did when she hacked in?"

"Hawk, this thing could help us fight Hellspawn on the front lines. It took the combined firepower of us and the Hellraiser to bring it down, Hellspawn don't have anywhere near the same firepower."

"And what's to stop them from regaining control of it?"

"I can create locks, firewalls and all kinds of defences to prevent it from being hacked. Trust me Hawk, I wouldn't suggest this if I wasn't sure."

"I hate to agree with her, Hawk. But she makes a good point. This thing could be an invaluable ally for us." Said Troy.

"You're taking her side in this?!" Hawk yelled. "I hate Hellspawn as much as you do, but having this machine on our side… it's wrong."

"Hawk's right. That thing killed hundreds of our kin. Would you still suggest this if it had killed one of us?" said Alaara.

"Yes I would." Leena replied.

"I've trusted you till now, Leena, but this is too much!" said Hawk.

"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" Austin yelled, casting himself between the two sides.

"Ultimately this has to be your choice, Shepard, as our leader." Said Alaara.

"I know." Austin sighed. He took a long moment to consider his decision. After several long tense moment, he finally spoke. "Leena… get to work on reprogramming the AI. Let me know when you're done."

"Yes, sir." Said Leena, bowing her head.

"I still don't agree with this… but I trust you, Shepard. I just hope you know what you're doing." Hawk sighed.

"Me too, Hawk." Said Austin. "I promise you though, if we even get the slightest sign that it may attack us again, we'll deactivate it immediately.

"And what if we can't deactivate it?" Hawk asked.

"Use gun." Said Kraan.

And if that doesn't work?"

"Use more gun."

"I'm not sure that…"

"Thank you all for your opinions. But my decision is final. Besides, if it does go wrong, I've got only myself to blame and therefore I will assume responsibility if it does." Austin interrupted.

* * *

"Reprogramming and repairs complete, Shepard." Said Leena.

"Be ready just in case, but do not aim at it. It may see that as a threat." Austin said to everyone. "Okay, Leena… turn it on."

For safety, the scientists were watching from outside the lab. Leena walked up to the control panel and pressed the button.

There was a loud hum as Exterminator 5 powered back up.

"Update and diagnostics… complete. All systems operational." It said. I then slowly scanned the area, immediately taking notice of Alpha. "Identified: Helldiver Squad: Alpha."

It then looked directly at Austin.

"Commanding officer: identified." It said, surprisingly standing at attention and… saluting. "Awaiting orders, sir."

"He's talking to you, Shepard." Said Leena.

"Errrrrrrr, at ease… soldier." Austin said, a little bit baffled at this new behaviour.

"Exterminator 5 reporting for duty, sir." Said the robot.

"Why's it talking like a soldier all of a sudden?" Dash asked in confusion.

"I reprogrammed his personality as well. Felt he'd be easier to communicate with this way." Said Leena.

"You mean **it**." Hawk corrected her.

"Analysis indicates that I have been reprogrammed only a few seconds ago, as well as modified slightly during reconstruction." Said Exterminator 5.

"Do you remember anything before your reprogramming?" Austin asked.

"Affirmative, sir. My databanks are completely intact. I remember everything right up until my first activation." Exterminator 5 replied.

"And when was that?"

"7 days, 2 hours and 85 seconds ago, sir."

"Who built you?" Troy asked.

"I was created and built by terrorist organization Hellspawn. They created the Exterminator units as their newest weapon against the Helldivers."

"Wait a minute, Unit **s**? As in, more than one?" Austin asked, hoping he'd heard wrong.

"That is correct, sir. I am the 5th of the first five Exterminator Units Hellspawn have created. They intended to make more, should tests prove successful."

"I knew it. They intend to build an army of these things." Said Hawk.

"The Exterminator Units are intended to be shock troopers for the front line. If that happens, Helldiver numbers are likely to fall."

"If you remember everything then you must remember where you were manufactured, and therefore where the other Exterminators are being made." Said Austin.

"Yes, sir. A factory on the planet Altrive 4."

"The mining planet?"

"Correct, sir. The materials on that planet gathered from the mining were one of the many components used in my construction."

"We've all seen what these Exterminators are capable of. We can't afford for Hellspawn to make an army out of them. That factory needs to be destroyed." Said Austin.

"We'll need the Arkane Council to actually assign us to this mission." Said Sandra.

"Then we just tell them what Exterminator 5 has told us and volunteer to go. I can't see why they wouldn't approve." Said Austi.

* * *

"You were right to ask permission of us, first, Alpha. We appreciate you following the code." Said Tarnack.

"The Council agrees this factory must be destroyed, and since you have volunteered we see no reason to refuse you." Said Spartan. "You are hereby assigned to destroy that factory by whatever means necessary and to make sure that no further Exterminator units are made."

"Thank you, Council. We'll leave right away." Said Austin.

"There is one more thing though, Shepard. The Exterminator unit that you have reprogrammed. You are certain it is on our side?"

"I have shielded it from every possible hack there is in existence. It is sworn to the Helldivers now. It will fight, and if necessary die for us if we are allowed to take it with us for this mission." Said Leena.

"That choice ultimately falls to Alpha's commander."

Everyone turned back to Exterminator 5 who was simply stood behind them all.

"Shepard, he knows the entire layout of the base and he knows how the Exterminators are built. Not to mention that his firepower would give us even more of an advantage. It'd be a waste not to take him with us." Said Leena.

"Does anyone object to this idea?" Austin asked.

"I don't like it, but I won't object. If there really are more of these Exterminators, we're going to need all the help we can get. So for now, I'll tolerate that robot working with us if that is your decision." Said Hawk.

Austin then turned to Exterminator 5.

"Exterminator 5, what is your primary objective?" he asked.

"My original primary objective was to hunt down and kill Helldiver Squad Alpha, Sir. Following my reprogramming however, my objective now is to assist the Helldivers in their war against Hellspawn by whatever means they allow. Additionally, my secondary objective is to assist you and Alpha Squad personally." Exterminator 5 replied.

"I guess that settles it then. We'll take him with us." Said Austin.

"If we're going to take him though, might I suggest we give him a new name?" Dash suggested.

"Why?"

"Well, think about it. Exterminator 5 is a rather long thing to say. Plus, if he's an ally it kind of sends the wrong message. Dash replied.

"Well, you're the so called genius at naming stuff, Dash. What do you suggest?" Kraan asked.

"Hmmm. Metalhead?" No, wait that name's taken." Said Dash. "How about just Number 5? Oh, no that's taken as well."

A few seconds passed before he then spoke again.

"Wait, I got it! X-5!" he said.

"X-5?"

"Yeah. It's perfect. It's short for Exterminator 5, just without the terminator bit. It's also short, easy to remember, and it has a nice ring to it." Dash explained.

"Okay then. X-5 it is." Said Austin.

"Acknowledged. New designation confirmed." Said the robot. "X-5 reporting for duty, sir!"

"Very well then." Said Austin. He then raised his voice a little. "X-5, new orders. You are to accompany us on our mission to destroy the factory where you are made. You will share all knowledge you have on the facility and will help us destroy the other exterminators, and any other Hellspawn members that may try to stop us. Confirm your understanding of this order."

"Sir, yes sir! I will follow you into battle, even to my own destruction!" said X-5.

* * *

"Hmm. Something tells me we're going to be outnumbered." Said Ventra.

"Good thing we brought the big guns." Said Dash, indicating to X-5.

"I thought that was my job." Said Kraan.

Ahead lay the factory, right where X-5 had said it would be.

"Okay, here's the plan. We'll recon the area and see what we're up against." Said Austin.

"Ready for action, sir!" X-5 said enthusiastically as he saluted. As he lowered his arm however, he accidently knocked some nearby crates. Austin just managed to catch one before it fell and made even more noise.

"Quiet, X-5! This is the recon part of the mission. We require stealth." He whispered.

"Apologies, Sir. But I am not properly equipped nor designed for stealth." X-5 apologised, lowering the volume of his voice.

"He's right about that." Said Hawk.

"Okay, new plan. Troy and Dash, you recon the area outside the factory. I want a full analysis of the guards on patrol." Said Austin. "We'll stay here with X-5 while he briefs us on the factory's interior."

* * *

Troy gently looked over the rock he was behind and used his helmets zoom to better observe the area. Quite a lot of possible entrances were too well guarded with troopers and sentry guns. The area he was observing however appeared the cargo loading area. Guard was actually lighter here, and any others were just workers.

"Hmm, this shouldn't be too hard." He said to himself.

After all, he'd managed to infiltrate a lot of places more heavily guarded than this without firing a single shot.

* * *

The recon team returned right as X-5 had finished briefing the rest of Alpha on the building. He was already projecting a holo map of the entire factory in front of them.

"Alright then. Let's go over the plan." Said Dash. "I'll run around and be awesome, you…"

"Dash! Teamwork." Austin reminded him.

Dash simply sighed.

"Okay, our priority is to destroy this factory and stop production of these Exterminator units." Austin explained.

As he spoke, he pointed to certain eras of the holo map.

"We'll place charges here, here, here and here. Enough explosives on those particular places should be enough to destroy the factory."

"What about intel and schematics that Hellspawn are using? It might be best to acquire those as well. Without that, they can't make any more." Leena suggested.

"Good idea." Austin agreed. "From what X-5's told us, the main computer that controls everything and houses the intel should be about here."

"What if we run into more of those Exterminators? Suppose even that the Commander himself is here?" Troy asked.

"If we do get the opportunity, we'll see what happens. But destroying this factory comes first." Austin replied.

"Understood." Troy nodded.

"Okay then, we'll break into three teams and infiltrate the base from different entry points. Alaara, you're in charge of team two. Troy, you're in charge of team three."

"WHAT?!" Dash said in disbelief.

"You heard him." Said Troy smugly.

"X-5, you're with my team in support." Said Austin.

"Sir, yes sir!" X-5 saluted.

* * *

Back at the same location as before, Troy took a quick moment to a survey the area again before turning to Dash and Leena and gave them orders through hand gestures, none of which they understood.

"What?!" Dash asked in confusion.

"Were you not paying attention?" Troy asked crossly.

"We… don't… know… what… this… means." Leena said slowly as she badly imitated Troy hand gestures.

"Just get inside without raising the alarm." Troy groaned.

"There. Was that so hard?"

"Shut up, Dash!"

* * *

Troy stuck to cover where he could. He didn't want to use his disguise just yet until he close enough. If he suddenly appeared as someone else far outside the area, it would raise suspicion.

Finally as he took cover behind a cargo train he gently glanced out. He could already see a worker heading in his direction. He would need to act quickly. Just as the worker was about to walk past, Troy made a light tap on the train. The noise immediately got the worker's attention and cautiously moved in its direction.

Soon as he was close enough Troy immediately acted. Pulling the worker out of sight, he immediately slit the worker's neck with his knife. After moving the boy out of sight, he gave Dash the all clear.

The Scout mostly used his speed, rather than his cloak. He enjoyed the challenge for some reason. He stuck to leaping off containers until he had a grip on a part of the outside wall.

Leena meanwhile stuck to cover same as try and used her cloak. She definitely could not run while carrying two folded up sentry's on her back. She was heavy enough as it was. Eventually she was forced to take cover before searchlight picked up her camouflaged form.

Troy finally turned his disguise on, impersonating the worker he'd just killed a few seconds ago. One worker attempted to say hello when they saw him, but a quick swing from Troy's knife made him silent. The spy's disguise then changed to impersonate that worker.

Dash gently shimmied to the side as he hung on, all the while keeping an eye on the workers and troopers below him. If they spotted him…

In keeping his focus slowly on the ground however, he didn't pay attention to where he put his left foot. The light gave way under the pressure and fell.

"Crap!"

The broken light one of the troopers on the head, who immediately raised his gun. Dash was just in time able to pull himself into a corner out of sight. To the scouts relief, he suddenly noticed a pyjak ran right past him and jump off the roof to then land on top of a container. The trooper saw that and that apparently seemed enough to convince him.

"Bloody pyjaks." He grumbled.

Dash gave a sigh of relief.

Troy saw another opportunity. While two workers pushing a cargo crate were distracted, the spy snuck inside it.

Dash finally reached the vent he'd been aiming for and quietly climbed inside. Leena had been most insistent that she wasn't the one to crawl in the vents. Years of bad luck and struggle in them had made her hate vents.

* * *

Inside, the workers finished brining the cargo crate in. As they opened it however, they found an unpleasant surprise waiting for them.

Troy barely gave them an time to speak. He grabbed them both, pulled them in with him, and quickly slit both their throats.

"Sorry to "pop in" unannounced." The Spy said as he assumed the identity of one of the workers.

"I'm inside." He said into his communicator."

 _"I'm in the vent."_ Said Dash.

"Leena, what's your status?"

No reply.

"Leena? Leena?!"

_"Can't talk right now."_

* * *

Leena has so regretted the choice of infiltration she'd taken.

She'd thought that sneaking in through the sewer entrance would be perfect, assuming she could clean the smell of later.

As it turned out however, she'd got her exit a little wrong and ended up in a room with three Hellspawn troopers, all of which had their guns trained on her. Force to raise her hands, the Quarian tried to think of something.

"What… what's that behind you?!" she said in panic.

Even Dash would say "That idea sucked" but it was the best Leena could come up with. Rather to her surprise however, it worked. All three Hellspawn troopers whirled round to where she'd pointed.

The Quarian immediately seized her chance and grabbed her tomahawk. She cut the first one down instantly with a blow to the head. The other two troopers quickly noticed and attacked. Leena managed to counter the first one and kicked him away. The second trooper swung at her with the blade eon his assault rifle, which the Quarian managed to block.

Managing to get an opening, she kicked the trooper to the ground and bought her tomahawk down onto his head.

Ducking under a shot from the third one, Leena quickly picked up one of the trooper's fallen shotguns and shot the final trooper right in the face.

"Boshtets." She said bitterly.

* * *

With Dash meanwhile, he was still crawling through the vents. Finally he reached a ceiling grate. He could see two troopers below.

Immediately he dropped down, taking the two troopers by surprise. He kicked one and threw his combat knife into right into their neck.

The other one attempted to fight, but Dash dodged all of his attacks before delivering several fast punches followed by a fast kick which broke the trooper's neck.

"Boom!" he cheered. "Just thought I'd "drop" in."

* * *

As Troy rounded a corner, he heard the unmistakable sound of a sentry gun. Simply smiling confidently, he took a small EMP grenade from his belt and gently tossed it towards the sentry.

The engineer stood by the sentry immediately took notice of the sentry malfunctioning. Right as he went to try and fix it, it suddenly blew up in his face causing him to fall flat on his back. As he tried to get back up he only noticed too late as Troy leapt on him and plunged his knife right into the engineer's head.

"You got blood on my armour." Troy said as he pulled the blade out.

* * *

Dash had once again resumed crawling through the vents. This time he was above a control centre. There were too many this time for him to fight hand to hand. He needed to try a different approach.

Fortunately, the scout had just the thing. He took a flash grenade from his belt and let it drop.

Everyone in the room was blinded as the grenade went off. Dash wasted no time and jumped down, guns blazing. It was over in seconds.

"That is how its done!" Dash said proudly as he twirled both his pistols before setting them back in their holsters.

"Not bad, I'll admit." Said Leena, who had just joined him.

* * *

Troy meanwhile had got t o higher ground and was on a walkway overlooking the large docking area. There were two guards in front of him. One very big on, and one very small. This would be easy.

Acting quickly, he slit the small one's throat first with his knife.

The brute however quickly reacted.

"A spy!"

The brute swung, but Troy ducked under his punch. He then sliced the brute's stomach and stabbed him in the back, letting him fall from the balcony.

Right as Troy was about to leave however he heard a loud crash. He looked down in horror to notice the dad brute had landed right on a crate, where everyone could see. Not to mention the noise had just attracted everyone's attention. Hell, that noise was loud enough to have been heard throughout the entire factory.

Everyone's gaze quickly fell on Troy before he even had a chance to cloak or activate his disguise.

"We have an intruder!" one of them yelled as he immediately activated the alarm.

"Merde!" Troy swore.

* * *

"Search the factory! If Alpha has found us, I wish to eliminate them myself!" The Commander ordered as troopers hurried off to answer the alarm. He meanwhile activated his omni tool.

"Elsa, what is the status on the two Exterminator Units?" he asked.

 _"We just finished repairing them, Commander. Tests have also been run and they are under our complete control."_ Elsa replied.

"Good. Alpha may have found us, I need them now."

_"I'll deploy them immediately, Commander."_

From above, Dash observed the whole thing having just entered central chamber undetected. Dash leapt on top of another vent to keep out of sight. The main computer was in sight. If he could get close enough, he'd be able to at least establish a link between it and Leena.

Keeping mostly to the shadow and using his speed, he was there without them ever noticing. Right as he used his omni tool to try and gain access however…

_"ALERT! Security breach detected!"_

"Ah, crap!"

Dash turned to find a squad of Hellspawn troopers, Trojan and the Commander's bodyguards with their weapons all trained on him.

"Were you expecting it to be that easy?" the Commander asked he slowly turned to face Dash. "I'm afraid I must disappoint you."

* * *

For Troy meanwhile, things were just as bad. Every Hellspawn trooper was looking for him now. Not that it bothered him too much.

As the spy exited cover, he immediately disguised himself as another trooper. It was then that also noticed a rather suspicious looking door.

Ultimately his curiosity got the better of him and he entered.

What Troy saw however made his mouth drop. Plans. And not just any plans. Plans for an army. An army of…

* * *

"Commander!"

The Commander turned to face the trooper who pointed at the monitor showing the video feed. There was Troy.

"Trojan, you know what to do." He said, turning his cyborg hacker.

Trojan simply nodded.

* * *

Troy looked around some more. It was no that he noticed some of the various parts as well. Hellspawn really were moving ahead with this plan.

In all the shock however, Troy heard the footsteps too late. As he drew his revolver, Trojan grabbed his arm and punched him so hard it knocked him to the ground. Troy could do nothing but look up as Trojan aimed her gun right at his head.

* * *

Two troopers forced Troy to his knees with Trojan bringing up the rear as they entered the central chamber.

"What took you so long?" Dash asked as Troy was put next to him, both their hands tied behind their backs.

* * *

"Troy Benning. After all this time, we meet again at last." Said the Commander, slowly turning to face the two.

"You'll forgive me if I don't say bonjour, Rodriguez."

"Come now, Troy. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"Old friend?" Dash asked in confusion.

"Oh, you've not told them? How very dishonest of you, Troy." Said the Commander. "Tell me, Dash Did Troy ever tell you and your squad why he's fighting alongside you?"

"Hellspawn's as much a threat to him as it is to us. What more reason does he need?" Dash replied.

"Oh but there's more to it than that." Said the Commander. "You see, many years ago back when I was a Helldiver, my spy network had many agents. Two in particular were among my best. My most loyal still stand at my side, the other… well, let's just say he had a change of heart… and he's right here with us."

It didn't take Dash long to work it out.

"You worked for him?" he asked in shock.

"I never wanted you to find out like this, but yes it's true. I used to be an agent for him, but once I found out he'd been branded a traitor and what the spy network was being used for, I left." Troy explained with regret. "I was young and didn't know better back then."

"You were my finest agent, Troy. You could've been one of us to this day, but instead you just left without so much as a resignation notice." Said the Commander.

"I was filled with regret and realized how bat-shit insane you really are!" Troy spat back.

"Oh Troy, don't be so dramatic. You enjoyed the work we did together. What we had done for humanity."

"What you did was for yourself and your racist arrogance thinking you can wipe out all non-humans in the galaxy!"

"Don't judge me, Benning! You left hoping that you could somehow clear your own conscience. Especially after your bitter parting with Sonya."

That name hit Troy more than anything. He was unable to not look at Trojan as the Commander said that. Even after a year now, he still couldn't' believe that this cyborg was all that was left of the women he'd once loved.

"I tried to turn her back away from you and your little group of terrorists." He said.

"And yet, she made a choice to stay with us. Her skills are unique as a hacker." Said the Commander.

"You manipulated her to stay by your side and then you turned her into a machine. You took away all the humanity she had!" Troy yelled, a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

"She's an adult. She made her choice. And besides, she's proved to be more of an agent than you ever were. You can keep running all you like, Troy. But you cannot hide what you were, what you did, what you helped me create." Said the Commander. "Look around you, Troy. All of this, all of Hellspawn exists because of your invaluable service. You are just as much its creator as I am."

"I am nothing like you!" Troy yelled in defiance.

"Haha. You're more like me than you think." The Commander chuckled evily.

"Well… that explains a lot." Said Dash.

"Dash… shut up." Said Troy. "Whatever you're planning with these Exterminators, Rodriguez, it'll fail. We know all about your research and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the others have succeeded in planting explosives by now."

"You cannot be so stupid as to think this will be easy. My troops will find you precious friends and kill them all. Whatever you're planning, it won't work, Troy. You can be certain of that." Said the Commander. "Besides, did you really think that all of this hinged on the Exterminators? We've done far more than just make heavy units."

The Commander activated his omni tool and a platform that had been hanging overhead slowly lowered itself down.

On it was a small army of robot soldiers. They were more human sized compared to the massive Exterminators and possessed less weaponry. Their main right arm though was an entire cannon. Very likely also the had lots of hidden surprises.

"With these combined with my army, nothing will stand in our way! The Age of Steel has begun!" said the Commander.

"My god!"

"Holy crap!"

The Commander then drew Troy's own pistol on him.

"Such a shame though you won't live long enough to witness my victory. Because we both know I have to kill you now." He said.

"I'm too handsome to die!" Dash said in panic, causing the Hellspawn troopers to laugh.

That laughter however was short lived as one of their heads suddenly exploded.

Everyone looked to see none other than the rest of Alpha on one of the balcony's.

"Well, well, well, the rest of Alpha decided to join us." Said the Commander calmly. "And you brought Exterminator 5 with you. I would wonder how you managed to get it on your side, but it matters not. All you've done is seal your fates. Exterminator 5, turn on Alpha Squad and kill them. Authorization code 39658719."

"Code… rejected. I am no longer programmed to follow your orders, Commander, or any of your protocols. I fight for the Helldivers now." X-5 said defiantly.

"You won't be saying that once your scrap metal!" the Commander growled. "Alpha Squad, drop your weapons and I will consider sparing your lives."

"You may be a Commander, Rodriguez, but you don't command us. You don't command something with blood in its heart!" said Austin.

"Troopers, get in formation!" the Commander ordered.

All Hellspawn troopers immediately got information and aimed their guns at Alpha. The two sides were now in a full on standoff.

"Bring it on, weaklings!" Kraan roared challengingly.

Neither side dared fire yet though.

All the while, Troy was able to draw out his wrist blade and began cutting at his restraints.

"Thirty seconds, Alpha or my troopers open fire!" said the Commander.

"You better hold onto your head, mate." Said Hawk.

"Now!" Troy yelled as his restraints snapped.

The two Helldivers suddenly kicked a nearby Hellspawn brute, causing him to crash right into the Commander, knocking Tory's pistol out of his hands which the spy immediately grabbed and used it to shoot the other two troopers behind him before they got a chance to fire.

"KILL THE SPY!" the Commander yelled.

Three troopers turned their attention to fire at Troy, but before they got a chance Kraan suddenly fired a rocket which took them all out.

"We got your six, Troy!" said Austin as he and the others jumped down from the walkway.

The whole room erupted into a firefight.

"Exterminators 2 and 4, engage the enemy. Avoid destroying the rouge unit if you can." The Commander ordered.

With everything that had happened, Alpha had failed to notice the other two Exterminators in the room.

Both immediately activated, this time under full remote control.

"X-5 engage the enemy!" Austin ordered.

"Sir, yes sir!"

X-5 immediately aimed at the Commander first and fired several beams. Each one hit, but none of them seemed to do anything.

"Sir, The Commander's armour appears to be shielded from my vaporizing weapons." Said X-5.

"You really think I would arm a highly advanced robot with weapons that could hurt me? Pathetic!" said the Commander.

As the two Exterminators advanced, X-5 refocused his attention on them while Alpha fought Hellspawn.

Kraan fired a few grenades from his grenade launcher as he took cover, taking out three more Hellspawn troopers.

Dash, who still had his hands bound, leapt off the main platform. Two Hellspawn troopers spotted him, but the scout immediately acted. He swung his leg and kicked them both before then head-butting the other.

"Boom! That is a skull fracture!"

He then took notice of a Hellspawn ninja.

They weren't actual ninjas. They were just given that name because they nearly always used swords and martial arts in battle.

The ninja drew his sword and readied to charge at Dash. The scout remained cool as he waited. If he timed this just right he'd not only be able to take out the ninja, but free himself as well.

The ninja then charged, sword raised. Dash jumped into a spin, making sure he held both his arms as far away from his body as possible. Sure enough, his plan worked. The ninja's sword cut right through his bonds, freeing both his hands.

With a quick movement of his feet he then kicked the ninja hard in the face, causing him to fall flat on his back and lost grip of his sword which spun a few times then fell, stabbing right into him as it landed.

Troy took cover behind a crate and blind fired two shots as he avoided fire from two more troopers. Taking a chance, Troy then leapt over cover and fired two well aimed shots which took both troopers out instantly.

Rolling into cover, the spy took a moment to reload. He even stuck his foot to strip up a Hellspawn sniper who was just running past him. He quickly finished the sniper off with a shot to the head while he was down.

Three more Hellspawn troopers meanwhile had broken off from the main group. They would try a different tactic.

"Flank them!"

Before they could put their plan into action however, Alaara suddenly jumped out in front of them from behind some crates

"Hello, boys!" she said enthusiastically as she charged up her biotics.

The troopers stopped in surprise and attempted to retreat once they saw Alaara glowing blow. But they were too slow.

With her biotics charged, Alaara jumped and slammed her fist into the ground, the force of Nova sending all three troopers flying.

Leena meanwhile was dodging bullets and rocket fire. It was only made harder by the fact that that she was carrying one of her un-deployed sentries right on her shoulder that she was ready to deploy it.

Finally once she was certain she was in the right place, she put the heavy thing down at last. Even for someone as muscular as her, it was quite the weight to carry, especially when you were in the middle of a battle being shot at.

"Placing sentry!" she said as the sentry unfolded and immediately opened fire.

Kraan, who had earlier stuck to the higher ground, jumped down, firing another rocket as he went which took out an enemy engineer and their sentry. As he landed, he even took at a Hellspawn scout who tried to melee him.

Dash, having reacquired his pistols, ran all over the place, firing as he went. He was pretty much, as he had said earlier "running around and being awesome"

He managed to take out two more Hellspawn troopers and even a sniper when he threw his combat knife. Another sniper attempted to shoot at him, but Sandra was immediately there and kicked the sniper off the edge, the fall killing him.

With his sword in his right hand, and his submachine gun in the other, Austin cut and shot at the same time. Previously he'd only been able to use this new form of fighting with a pistol, but since then he'd been getting much better and was now skilled enough to use a submachine gun. He mostly stuck close to Ventra who was firing all kinds of different arrows. EMP, explosive, shockwave, electric, you name it, Ventra was firing it.

As a shot from Leena's sentry took out another Hellspawn brute, Kraan was fighting with another ninja. He quickly overpowered the human however and with a surprisingly violent pull, tore both the ninja's arms from their sockets. It was a technique that Dash had suggested he try. Something about the scout wanting him to be like someone called Chewbacca.

Troy and Hawk meanwhile were back to back as they shot down more Hellspawn troopers, Troy using his revolver and Hawk using his submachine gun.

Leena was about to deploy her aerial drone when she suddenly noticed her sentry. It had been covered in sticky grenades. The Quarian immediately reacted and ran just as the explosives went off. The explosion sent her flying and she ended up crashing into a nearby crate. Fortunately it only left her dazed and uninjured.

The Commander meanwhile was sticking to cover where he could, mostly to remain out of sight. He cursed himself for not bringing his bodyguards with him. He could use them right now. Alpha appeared to be winning against his soldiers who seemed to be falling too easily.

It was then however that he remembered his robot troopers. Perhaps it was time to see how well they fought Helldivers. He activated his omni tool and the robots powered up, all jumping down from their platform.

"Sir, incoming reinforcements!" said X-5.

Everyone looked in the direction of the robots as they landed.

"Targets acquired!"

The robots all turned to face Alpha, having surrounded them and took aim.

"Incoming!" Austin yelled.

The robots all fired rockets at them. Acting quickly, Alaara threw up a biotic shield around her squad, protecting them.

Troy then noticed the Commander. He was leaving, accompanied by a Hellspawn scout.

"Not this time, Commander!" he said to himself.

Activating his cloak and deploying his decoy which was quickly shot down by one of the robots, Troy took off after the Commander. He was not going to let the Hellspawn leader get away this time.

Troy however forgot to watch his speed and he ended up running once he was out of sight of the other robots and his cloak disabled.

The Commander heard the sound and turned to see Troy.

"Stop him!" the Commandeer ordered as he retreated.

The Scout provided cover fire, but it was little use. As Troy ran he gunned the scout down instantly.

It was as the Commander entered the cargo train area that he turned and drew his own submachine gun on Troy as the spy walked in. The spy remained calm and stood where he was waiting for the right moment.

"Just you and me, Troy." The fallen Helldiver chuckled.

As he spoke however a cargo train suddenly ran right between the two of them, blocking the Commander's view and causing him to lose sight of Troy. Once the train had sped past, the spy was gone.

The Commander noticed too late as Troy lunged at him from above, but he was able to avoid the spy's attack. As soon as Troy landed, the Commander kicked him hard in the face. As Troy rolled onto his back, he fired several shots form his revolver, forcing the Commander to seek cover behind a nearby crate. He then opened fire himself. Troy failed to react in time and one of the Commander's shots hit his revolver, shooting it out of his hand.

When the spy tried to reach for it however, the Commander kicked it away. Before the Commander could attack however Troy quickly unsheathed his combat knife and attacked, the blade cutting right through one of the Commander's optic eyes (which were essentially his real eyes)

The Commander growled at having lost his vision and grabbed Troy's arm as the spy tried to attack again. At the same time, Troy grabbed the Commander's arm as he attempted to shoot Troy.

The two opponents struggled as they tried to shake each other's grip.

* * *

Back with the rest of Alpha, things weren't going well either. The Commander's new robots it seemed had the ability to fly and they were hovering right out of Alpha's reach. To make matters worse they were firing more rockets.

The squad had been forced to separate and were sticking mostly to cover while avoiding the robots' rockets.

Austin fired more shots from assault rifle, but it then suddenly clicked. He was out of ammo. Placing the rifle back on his back he then drew Excalibur again.

"X-5, can you give me a boost?" he asked.

X-5, who as currently engaging viciously with the other two Exterminators, took notice.

"I'll try, sir." He replied, countering an attack from Exterminator 3 and then punching it back in the face.

Austin ran up and jumped onto X-5's arm, who then threw him up into the air, after which he resumed his fight.

Austin landed on the back of one of the robots who started to struggle in an attempt to shake him off. Austin stabbed into the robot and grabbed onto its cannon arm. Using his strength, he managed to angle the cannon enough so that when it fired, it took out another robot with each shot.

X-5 meanwhile continued to fight the other Exterminators. Really it was 3 he was struggling with. 1's lack of arms made it easier to fight. Best it could do was kick.

Dash meanwhile was again going after the intel on the computer. Right as he began accessing it however he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to find none other than Trojan standing before him.

Dash drew his pistols, but Trojan lunged and kicked him to the floor, causing him to drop both his pistols.

Trojan attacked again and swung a punch down at him, but the scout managed to roll back out of the way just in time as the cyborgs fist punched down on the hard metal.

She then swung her lug, but Dash jumped over that. As the cyborg tried another downward strike, Dash jumped back again then propelled himself forward. Trojan ducked under him and then kicked him right in the back, causing him to fall rather painfully on the edge of the platform.

* * *

Tory continued to struggle against the Commander. Eventually he seized and opening and head-butted the Commander hard, causing the fallen Helldiver to stagger back.

Troy swung again several times with his wrist blade before the Commander managed to grab his arm and forced the blade so hard against a crate that the blade snapped off.

The Commander once again tried to fire, this time at point blank range. Troy was just able to avoid the rounds as he grabbed onto the Commander's hand. One round just barely missed his helmet and left a scratch.

The Commander then grabbed Troy and literally threw the spy right over him. In the process, he also threw away his submachine gun.

As Troy got up he only just noticed the Commander swinging a punch at him and managed to avoid it in time. He immediately got back up and blocked again as the Commander attempted to attack him from the side.

The Commander swung again, but Troy ducked under the attack. Troy followed this with his own punch, but the Commander blocked it. With Troy's right arm blocked, the Commander used his other arm to attempt a punch, but Troy manged to jump back in time to avoid it. In doing so however he struggled to keep his balance.

Right as the Spy managed to steady himself at last however, the Commander immediately kicked him right in the stomach, causing him to stagger back. A wide punch then caught Troy's helmet. There was a loud clang of metal and the spy was left rather disoriented as the noise continued ringing in his ears.

* * *

X-5 managed to gain an opening and immediately went for Exterminator 3's head. Using all the strength he had, he pulled the robot's head right off. Exterminator 1 managed to land a kick on X-5, but the robot immediately flung the wreckage of Exterminator 3 right at it. The body crashed into Exterminator 1 and pinned it to the ground. As the robot tried desperately to pick itself back up, X-5 slowly walked up to it and gently put one of it's feet on Exterminator 1's head.

Then it began to apply the pressure. The sound of metal bending and grinding could be heard as X-5 applied more and more pressure until the foot suddenly went completely down and crushed Exterminator 1's head completely.

"Exterminator's destroyed, sir." Said X-5.

Well done, X-5. Now help us finish off the least of these ones." Said Alaara as she used a warp on another robot.

X-5 obeyed and joined the battle.

Dash managed to doge several more attacks from as the cyborg punched the ground several times in an attempt to crush him.

"Missed me!"

As Trojan went for another strike, Dash was able to roll under the attack before it hit and get back on his feet. Trojan immediately took notice and swung at him. Once again though, the scout was able to duck under it. He then swung his leg at Trojan and hit her in the back of the head. The force of the kick temporarily knocked the cyborg down.

Right as Trojan got back up, Dash leapt onto her shoulders and then back flipped off her, the force of his kick causing her to fall down the stairs. As she landed, Dash aimed for the cables holding up the platform that the robots had been on earlier.

Trojan noticed too late as the cables broke and the platform fell right onto her a loud clang.

"Shame to end this on such a… "flat" note." Dash said smugly.

Quickly noticing his friends as the robots tried to surround them, Dash re-joined Alpha.

"How many more of these things are there?" Austin asked rhetorically as he cut down another robot.

"30 to be precise, sir." X-5 replied.

"Oh, well that's not too bad then." Said Dash.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Said Ventra, firing another EMP arrow as the robots continued advancing on them

"I've more of a lukewarm feeling about this." Said Dash.

"I have no feelings." said X-5.

"Let's kill 'em all!" Kraan cheered. "We are not trapped in a facility full of robots; they are all trapped in here with us!"

* * *

The Commander grabbed Troy by the neck and punched him hard several more times.

"Once a traitor, always a traitor." He said, holding Troy's helmet up close to his.

Troy gently looked back up. Those words sparked something in him. He suddenly attacked the Commander with several hard anger driven punches.

"Not one like you!" he yelled.

Hi final punch knocked the Commander right onto the tracks… and there was a cargo train coming. The Commander reacted too late and the train crashed right into him.

Troy simply watched as the train still continued through, disappearing from sight. He knew that wouldn't kill the Commander, but at least now there was little he could do to stop Alpha.

"Nice work, Troy."

Troy turned to see the rest of Alpha behind him having dealt with the last of the robots.

"I doubt that killed him, but for now he won't be a problem for us." Troy said, casting one last look at where the cargo train had hit the Commander.

"All enemies neutralized, Sir. Ready to destroy factory on your command." Said X-5.

Austin nodded.

"Before we leave though, you owe us an explanation, Troy." He said. "I'm afraid we all heard what the Commander said, and what you said as well."

Troy sighed.

"Well, I guess it's pointless trying to deny it now." He said. "Yes. I used to work for the Commander many years ago. I was a spy for him, helped him acquire rare or valuable intel on either the enemy or certain individuals he may be targeting. As I said before though, I didn't know what the Commander's true purpose was. It was only when I learned he was stealing intel from our allies as well that I learned the truth. He was trying to create the spy network as a parasite within the Helldivers."

Austin cast a somewhat uncertain look at the others.

"Do the council know about this?" he asked.

"How could they not? Besides, how do you think they first found out about the Commander's treachery? Because I told them." Troy replied.

Alpha remained silent, unsure of what exactly to say. Troy had proven himself a good friend in the time they'd worked together, but the fact that he hadn't told them about this…

"Okay, I suppose that does prove who's side you're on. But why lie to us about this?" Leena asked.

"To be fair, Leena, I never actually said I **wasn't** part of Hellspawn, and you never asked." Said Troy defensively.

"He's got a point there." Dash admitted.

"Look, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I'd hoped this secret would never get out at all." Said Troy. "I don't' expect you to understand, but I helped the Commander make all this possible. Much as I hate to admit it, he's right. He used me to help create Hellspawn, therefore it is my duty to destroy it."

He then hung his head slightly in regret.

"I can understand if you don't want anything to do with me anymore, but it is my mission, and I intend to see it through, with or without your help."

Surprisingly, Austin then walked up to Troy and put his hand on the spy's shoulder.

"Well you don't have to do it alone, Troy." He said. "Throughout the past few years you've worked with and fought alongside us, I've come to see you as a friend too. Perhaps even an unofficial member of this squad as well."

"Besides, you're not only one here who's trying to atone for their past." Alaara said supportively.

Kraan simply nodded in agreement.

"We're still with you, Troy. One way or another." Said Austin.

Troy was almost left lost for words.

"I… thank you. It means a lot to hear you say that." He said.

"Us Helldivers gotta stick together, friends and all that." Said Dash.

"Yes… friends." Troy smiled.

* * *

Alpha walked away from the exploding factory with a real sense of accomplishment. They'd robbed the Commander of a robot army, gained a new ally in the form of X-5, and had done this all by themselves. They'd certainly have a tale or two to tell when they got back to Arkadia.

"We did it! We did it because we're best friends!" Dash cheered

"Alright, Dash. Take it easy." said Troy. "Still, who wants drinks when we get home? I'm buying!"

* * *

Alpha had hoped to celebrate their victory on Arkadia, but they found out on the way back that the Endeavour was low in fuel, so they'd made a stop at a nearby planet. Not wanting to wait on the ship, they'd decided to go to the diner for the evening. Just a friendly evening where they were out of their armour and could be themselves. As it turned out, the evening ended up more like a traditional joke would sometimes go.

_A whole team walks into a diner. A British leader, an American scout, a Russian specialist, a French spy, a pilot, an Australian biker, a Krogan, an Asari, a Quarian, and a Turian. Once everyone had finished sitting down, the waitress asked for their orders. The Asari and the Russian ditched them to go to the bathroom and they started making out. Just as they started to get horny, they ripped their clothes off so they could have sex in public. Suddenly, while the action was going on in the women's bathroom, a few mercs came out of nowhere and started attacking. The leader used his sword to slash them, the Krogan bashed them, the Turian used his bow for chest shots, the Quarian hacked their turrets, and everyone else opened fire at the mercs. The waitress was in her break with her headphones on listening to music loud and not aware of the firefight going on while the Asari and Russian were having sex in public unaware of the firefight. Until the bathroom was breached and the nude women start shooting at the mercs while they were distracted by just how hot it was to their sight of interrupting a nude women and Asari having hard-core sex in public while a firefight is going on. Then the two loves killed them. Just as the firefight was over, they put their clothes back on and saw the damage of the firefight had caused the diner. The waitress came back from her break and saw the damage._

_She yelled "What the hell is wrong with you people? This is a diner, not a bar fight or a firefight!"_

_Then the American scout says the waitress "Check please."_

Overall, Alpha had definitely had better evenings at a diner. Dash even still had ice on his cheek where the waitress had punched him. As Dash continued applying Ice to his soar face, he made a mental note.

"Note to self: Remember to stop making mental notes out loud."

Having made a mental note, Dash made a sane one. He planned to have a word with the author of this story and ask if he could stop getting painfully slapped constantly.

* * *

Shadow looked at the burning, destroyed factory with disappointment. She wished she'd been here. Perhaps she could've turned the tide. Still, the Commander and Trojan were both alive so she was pleased about that. She'd hate to lose her master and friend.

"I should've been here." She said with regret. "You might still have an army if I had been."

"Never mourn the past, young warrior." Said the Commander. "Besides, you should know by now I always have a plan B."

He then activated his omni tool and a holo of Thornton And Elsa appeared.

 _"Commander, good to see your alive. We were beginning to fear the worst."_ Said Thornton.

"Are they ready?" the Commander asked.

* * *

"The first 500 have already been completed, sir. Many more are well on the way." Said Elsa.

From below her, a massive factory was already in motion, mass producing robot after robot as they joined the lines of already completed models.

The scientist smiled proudly as one of the robots activated. The Commander would still have his army. It was far from over…

* * *

**I don't know why, but somehow writing X-5 this way a lot mroe fun than how I wrote him in the trilogy.**

**Should also point out, the diner scene is as it is because I felt it might be a bit more humours that way and sound like an actual joke. It was not because I got lazy. (I'm not joking)  
**

**Right, I have a feeling the next chapter may take longer. Even though I've had it planed out for a while, I still think it will take some time since it is quite an action heavy one.**

**In the meantime though, hope you enjoyed this, and please keep leaving those reviews! :)**


	19. Chapter 19, The Daughter

_**Guess what? I'm still alive.** _

**_I'm so sorry you had to wait so long for this. See I was originally writing a different chapter, but I just lost all interest in the idea. In the end I decided to scrap it all together, and rearrange my plan. Thus this one came instead. Now it's finally completed and I'm back on course._ **

**_Oh and for those who are interested, I finished this while on holiday. In fact, I'm writing these author notes while on holiday right now._ **

**_Anyway, enough talk. Hope the chapter was worth the wait. Huge warning though, this chapter is very dark and contains scene of extreme, and I do mean EXTREME, torture. PLEASE BE WARNED, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY SUCH THINGS!_ **

**_Also big thanks to SpectreFanchin10 for beta reading this chapter._ **

* * *

**YEAR 6, Inner Demons**

**2178: 6 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**9 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"X-5 helped us turn the tide a huge amount by not only lending his intel and service to us, but also by accompanying multiple squads. For us however, things were about to get serious. We were unfortunate to fall into a trap and, well… let's just say that this latest encounter with our enemy was giving to leave us scared… both physically and mentally…_

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**The Daughter**

Austin gave a yawn as he closed the apartment door. He'd just come home after a long trip home from visiting Nyarra. The two were still continuing their relationship, despite the long distance and the fact that Alpha being on missions so much did sometimes make it difficult for them to see each other. Still, they took opportunities where they could.

As Austin locked the door, he suddenly noticed how quiet everything was. There was no one in sight at all and it was all dark.

Strange. He would've thought that everyone would still be up at this time. It was then that he spotted a little note on the nearby table.

_Shepard_

_Go out onto the balcony._

Simply shrugging, Austin headed out onto the main balcony.

He always loved the view this apartment had of the entire Arkadia city, and of course a fantastic view of the night sky with all the stars out and Arkadia's twin moons in just the right places. They were way closer to the planet than the Earth moon, so it made for quite a sight.

Austin looked around, but still he didn't see anyone. Where the hell where they?

Suddenly there was a loud bang. Austin whirled round to see something shooting into the sky, following by another and another. He reached for his pistol half expecting to be attacked any second, but then there was another bang and a bright flash. Austin looked up to see fireworks going off above the roof of the apartment. It was then that he saw Kraan and Ventra, their weapons loaded with fireworks.

"SURPRISE!" they both yelled.

Music then started to play as the rest of Alpha appeared, singing along to the tune.

"Happy birthday, congratulations! Happy Birthday with salutations! Happy birthday, may your skies stay blue… Happy Birthday to you!"

At the same time, Hawk appeared pushing a massive cake right up to Austin as everyone gathered round, still cheering happily. Kraan even gave him a thump on the back once he and Ventra had hopped down from the roof.

"Happy birthday, Shepard." Said Sandra.

"Oh you guys." Austin sighed happily as he shook his head. "Wow… big cake."

"Baked it myself, words and all." Said Hawk proudly.

"Never a disappointment with your cooking, Hawk." Austin smiled.

"Well go on, Shep. Blow out the candles." Said Dash.

Austin took a deep breath and blew out all the candles in just one breath. It was then however that he noticed something…

"Wait a minute… where's Alaara?"

Before anyone could answer however, the cake suddenly exploded as Alaara burst right out of it, completely naked.

"Tadaaaaaa!"

"Oh of course. Should've known." Austin sighed again.

"You honestly think I'd miss the chance to jump out of a cake, naked? It's probably the only chance I'll ever get to do that." Said Alaara, still not making any attempt at all to cover herself, even with Dash staring right at her.

"Well, there's always next year." Austin suggested.

"Yeah, but then it won't be a surprise." Said Alaara as Sandra finally handed her a robe which she put on. Sandra also at the same time noticed Dash was still staring with his mouth hanging open. A quick slap to the face brought him out of it.

"Shame about the cake though. Hawk must've spent weeks baking that." Said Austin.

"Depends what you define as a cake, Shepard. Haven't you noticed? It's fake." Said Alaara, as she picked up a piece, revealing it to just be plastic.

"Was made specially for Alaara to burst out of." Said Hawk, suddenly appearing again and wheeling in another cake, this one much smaller and with a Helldiver symbol on it. " **This** is your real Birthday cake."

"I honestly don't know what to say, guys. Thank you so much. It means a lot that you went to all the trouble for this." Said Austin.

"Why wouldn't we? You're our fearless leader." Said Leena.

"Make a wish!"

Austin took another breath and blew out all the candles.

"Happy birthday, boss!" said Kraan proudly as everyone clapped and cheered.

* * *

After about an hour or so of drinks, Dash had suggested they all play a game of cards. Some had been reluctant, but they'd eventually come round.

"I do hope I remember the rules, it's been ages since I've played a game of cards." Said Austin.

"Are four threes better than two aces? Oh, I can never remember!" Sandra sighed.

"Sandra, remember when I said "Don't show anyone your hand?" That rule includes announcing it to the table." Said Dash.

"You seem to have enough people. I have a thousand things to do." Said Hawk as he went to get up, but a few words from Troy stopped him.

"Losing money can be both relaxing and habit forming, Hawk. Give it a try." He said.

"If any man in history ever needed a hobby, it's you." Said Dash. The scout then turned his attention to the game. "Dealer starts. Ooh… I… believe… I'll start at… three credits!"

"Seriously! Who starts at 3 credits?! I'm starting at ten." Said Kraan.

"Sounds good. I'm in." said Telrass casually.

"Bolder the better, right? I'm in." said Troy.

"Me too." Said Sandra.

"Leena?"

"Just remember I'm still new to this game, so go easy on me." Said the Quarian.

"Don't worry. You'll pick up in no time." Said Dash. "How about you, Shepard? You in too?"

"Sure. In fact, I'll raise it another 5 credits." Said Austin boldly.

"You haven't even looked at your cards!" said Hawk.

"Our illustrious leader is betting we're bluffing." Said Troy.

"You **are** bluffing." Said Telrass.

* * *

"And with that, he was forced to run home completely naked." Hawk finished.

"He did not!" Sandra said in surprise, trying to contain her laughter.

"Good on him for not being afraid." Said Troy.

"HA! You're shitting us!" Kraan laughed, banging his fist on the table.

"That's how you know it's true, Kraan. You could never put that in a book." Said Dash.

"Troy, I'll bet you've got tons of stories to tell." Said Austin.

"I thought you'd never ask." Troy smiled as he lay back in his chair. "And I know just the one. Once I had to infiltrate a base full of Blood Pack mercs…"

"I like where this is going." Said Kraan.

* * *

"…the moment our soldiers spotted them after that, they completely burst out laughing. These Krogan and Vorcha all then looked at each and to their horror realized that all their armour had been completely coloured pink!" Troy finished.

"HA! That's even funnier than when Dash got slapped by that Asari." Kraan laughed, now a little drunker than before having consumed almost an entire gallon of Krogan ryncoll.

"You are such a devil, Troy. You nearly made my drink come out of my nose." Hawk chuckled.

"I've got one for you. It was on the night I got Excalibur for the first time…" Austin began.

"Let's just say that put a whole new meaning on "getting the point" when those two guys were done." He finished.

"Ha! Not bad!" Dash chuckled.

"Well done." Troy smiled.

"Ha! You ought to tell stories more often." Telrass laughed.

"That was scandalous. It would ruin us if anyone found out… Tell it again!" Sandra smiled.

"We definitely need another round of drinks!" said Ventra.

"And the dealer takes everything! I win again." Dash said proudly.

"Deal again. I've figured out your moves, Dash." Said Troy challengingly.

"As you wish, Troy. But I'll warn you now; this may cost you more than your money at this rate." Said Dash casually.

"Alright, you're on, Torres. Let's see if you're so called "good fortune" lasts one more round." Said Troy.

"Deal me in too. I want a chance to win my dignity back." Said Hawk.

"Good luck with that, mate." Austin chuckled.

"This should be good." Said Leena.

* * *

The table was full of barely contained sniggers as everyone tried not to laugh at the fact that both Troy and Hawk had not only lost the game again, but also both their clothes.

"Don't… say… a word… any of you." Troy said trough gritted teeth.

"I… I tried to warn you, Troy." Ventra chuckled, barely managing to contain his laughter.

"Never bet against Dash, you two. Especially when it comes to money. I don't know how he does it without cheating, but he's an absolute demon." Said Sandra.

"I'm leaving. I don't want to witness Troy and Hawk's walk of shame back to their rooms." Said Telrass.

"I do. I'm ready to record and everything." Said Leena, prepping her Omni tool.

"You will do no such thing!" said Hawk crossly as he stood up. Quickly noticing his mistake however, he immediately made a break for his room. Troy, seizing his chance while everyone was distracted, quickly did the same, though Leena did manage to get at least a few seconds of footage.

"Mmmm. Thanks for cooking more cake, Hawk." Said Kraan drunkenly as he stuffed another huge piece of cake into his mouth.

"You are such a pig, Kraan." Said Dash.

"That's it!"

Kraan immediately overturned the table and lunged at Dash. Everyone else just went about their business. Except of course for Alaara who all this time had been under the table, where Sandra had been sitting. What exactly she'd been doing under there, no one knew. One thing they did know however, she'd clearly gotten far drunker than even Kraan was right now.

"Whozat? Did I win?" she asked.

* * *

The following day, Alpha were already back into the field on another mission. They'd been informed by the Arkane Council of a message they'd received from a supposed former Hellspawn operative who wanted to defect. Apparently she had vital information on Hellspawn's operations that she was willing to offer in return for Alpha getting her safely to Arkadia.

With the objective in a rather remote location that was also in a no fly zone, there was so question Alpha needed to use the Hellraiser. As always, that of course made Dash mad with excitement at getting to drive his favourite toy again.

Fortunately, he'd reluctantly agreed to slow down, but only because Sandra looked like she'd throw up on the seats any second. Given how unpleasant that had been last time, Dash did not want it to happen again.

That didn't stop him from trying other ways to alleviate his boredom of driving slowly.

"STOP TURNING MY SEAT HEATER ON, DASH, OR I WILL FUCKING STAB YOU!" Hawk swore in annoyance.

* * *

After some time, they finally reached an extremely narrow canyon. The Hellraiser was far too big to fit inside, and with the area still in a no fly zone, they couldn't get the dropship to pick them up and deposit them closer to the object. With a bit of reluctance, they'd have to finish the journey on foot and do the same coming back.

Though everyone was in a good mood after the party yesterday, Alpha were a lot quieter than usual. Admittedly, the place they were in was so remote there weren't any life forms for miles.

"She certainly picked a very jolly spot for this extraction." said Alaara sarcastically.

* * *

"I spy…" Dash began.

"No." Sandra simply said.

"But…"

"No."

"Spoilsport."

"Watch it." said the comm expert warningly. "I have Sais, and I'm not afraid to use them on your throat."

Dash didn't say anything and remained silent.

"Well, that shut him up." Said Alaara, somewhat impressed that had worked.

* * *

After what felt like half an hour, they finally reached their destination. A remote house situated right in the dead end of the canyon.

While the rest of Alpha stood on guard to make sure the place was secure and no one tried to sneak up on them, Austin knocked on the door.

It gently slid open to reveal a blonde woman dressed in a normal scientist's uniform.

"Janet Goldanna?" Austin asked.

"You must be Alpha Squad." The woman said with relief. "Please, come inside. I just need to pack my things and we'll leave."

The interior of the house almost felt as though it was from a completely different building altogether. If anything, it almost looked more like a museum. There were several stone sculptures along with a few artefacts around the room.

Most noticeable of all was the collection of stone statues all around the large room. They had a very strange look to them though. If anything they looked more like stone sculptures of machines rather than organics.

Dash especially found them quite interested. Before he could reach to find out if they were made from rock however, Alaara suddenly slapped his hand away.

"Ow!"

"Don't… touch… anything." She said sternly.

"I appreciate you coming all this way for me." Janet said as she began packing things into a backpack.

"Don't thank us, thank the Arkanes. Besides, you said so yourself you had a lot of Intel to offer with your defection." Said Austin.

"Enough to really piss off the Commander. Even concerns his own daughter." Said Janet.

"Daughter?! He doesn't have a daughter. Does he?" Troy asked in surprise.

Given his history with Hellspawn and the Commander he was surprised that he of all people wouldn't know that.

"A long lost daughter he's been searching for, hoping to make her his successor. The intel suggests he's found her at long last." Janet explained.

"Who is she?" Leena asked.

"I wish I knew. The Commander was obviously careful. Shared the daughter's true identity only with his top lieutenants. Everyone else simply got Intel saying "She's closer than we think."

"For all we know, this daughter could be living a very peaceful life. If the Commander finds her…" Austin began, but he was interrupted when the entire room went dark.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Dash swore. "We walked right into another trap."

"That you did." Janet suddenly said, her voice completely different and now with an unmistakable German accent.

There was the unmistakable sound of a gun being loaded. Alpha drew their own in defence, but the pitch blackness made it impossible to see.

"So… does this mean she's **not** defecting? I'm confused." Said Dash.

"Then allow me to shed some light on the subject, Dash." Said another voice, this one very familiar.

The lights then suddenly flickered back on and everyone jumped back slightly in surprise as the lights suddenly revealed none other than the Commander standing at Janet's side. Although she now looked completely different. Her red hair was completely gone; in place of it was blonde hair in a ponytail. She also seemed completely unafraid of the fallen Helldiver standing beside her.

"Commander." Austin said bitterly.

"Must admit, I was surprised the Arkanes sent you of all squads. Would've thought something like this was below your paygrade." Said the Commander. Keeping his submachine gun trained on them. "Oh, introductions. Alpha, allow me to introduce my top scientist, Elsa Gunther. She's proven to be quite an invaluable asset for me. Co-created the cleanser with me and even created X-5. Shame the robot's not with you this time. You just might have made it out alive."

"Who says we won't this time? Don't know if you've noticed Rodriguez but you're locked in here with us and we outnumber you." Said Kraan smugly.

"I suppose you think we're going to surrender now, do you?" Elsa asked calmly.

"Well, yes?" said Dash. There was a slight hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Sadly, I'm afraid I must disappoint you again, Alpha. Say hello to my little friends." Said the Commander.

Sounds of electronics and metal grinding suddenly filled the room. Alpha watched in complete shock as the statues that had been surrounding them suddenly came to life. Rocks cracked and crumbled as they fell off, revealing the statues to be actual robots.

Alpha were almost petrified by the sight as the Commander's own elite guard shed their disguises and immediately rallied to their master, swarming around him and Elsa as if to protect them. In fairness though, it was probably Alpha that need the protection more.

"Okay… these guys are new." Said Austin cautiously as he slowly placed his assault rifle on his back and reached for his sword and submachine gun.

"The Commander's bodyguards." Said Troy, a sigh of annoyance present in his tone. "Don't let the fact that their robots fool you."

"How bad can they be?" Dash asked.

As if responding instantly, one of the guards suddenly leapt over the rest and lunged at Dash with almost lighting speed.

Too fast for even Dash, the guard's staff hit him right in the face and the electric shock sent him flying.

"Ow!"

Austin immediately attacked back and the guard blocked his sword. Surprisingly it pushed back quite a bit against his blade, very nearly forcing the Helldiver back. Summoning up more strength though, Austin finally managed to push the guard off him. The guard back flipped and spun as it disengaged before once again settling in battle stance, ready to continue fighting.

"Does that answer your question, doofus?" Kraan asked as he and the others readied for a fight.

"Subdue them. Stun only, do not kill." The Commander ordered.

"We obey." The robots all said in unison with deep menacing voices. They then twirled their staffs intimidatingly in perfect sync with each other. It was like watching the same moving image side by side, one after the other.

"Never is a fair fight." Austin sighed.

"Hang on..." said Kraan, pausing to let out a disgustingly long and loud belch. "Alright, let's go."

The guards all attacked at once, most split up to fight Alpha one on one, but a few stated in pairs to attack from both sides.

All of Alpha were definitely unprepared for just how fast these machines were. Not only were they physically fast, but they spun their staffs so fast they practically became a blur.

Alaara, who only had her stun stick, was barely able to keep up. As she blocked an attack from guard, another lunged. The staff's tip hit her armour and she was immediately overwhelmed by a large amount of voltage. From inside her suit, she could already tell the charge was messing up her systems. Her HUD went static for a few seconds before the suit managed to recover again.

"Don't let their staffs touch you! They carry an electrical charge great enough to play havoc with your suits! Enough shocks and they can even shut it down!" Troy warned, managing to parry a guard's thrust with his own staff.

"Thanks for the advice." Dash groaned, finally picking himself back up and joining the fight.

While Sandra was holding her own against two more guards, he drew both his pistols and fired at them while they had their backs turned to him.

To the Scout's utter surprise however, one of the guards suddenly moved its staff behind its back as it spun, blocking all of Dash's shots.

Sandra attempted to take advantage of this and thrust with her left sai, but the guard simply used its free hand to counter her attacks while the staff arm continued blocking Dash's gunfire.

"How the hell are they doing that?" Dash asked.

"360 degree field of vision." The Commander replied as he and Elsa simply observed the whole thing. "It's impossible to catch them unaware."

The circular heads now made a lot more sense. Still, knowing that didn't' help Alpha at all.

Alaara especially was soon overpowered as a guard managed to break through her defence and hit her right in the helmet, the shock once again messed up her suit. Dazed and disoriented, the second guard then thrust its staff into her abdomen which only worsened the effect and sent her flying into the wall.

Sandra almost immediately noticed her bondmate was down and immediately disengaged from the guards he'd been fighting to come to the Asari's aid.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" she yelled, casting herself between Alaara and the guards.

One of the guards made the first move and thrust forward with the handle of its staff. Sandra blocked it with both her Sais, but in truth the guard had planned on that. It suddenly pushed the staff down until the handle became locked between her sai's blade, and the blade guards. Before Sandra had a chance to try and disengage, the guards suddenly threw her aside, causing her to crash against a nearby wall, rather painfully for her.

"Great, first we get betrayed now we're being harassed by an army of toasters." Said Dash, dodging another swipe from the guard he was fighting. His speed and agility did certainly enable to him to avoid them, but he couldn't keep it up forever.

"You will be incinerated." The guards said.

"Comebacks as well? You gotta be shitting me!"

"Why do they all keep talking at the same time?" Kraan asked.

"We are a single AI consciousness in many bodies. Destroy one, and you only increase the other's knowledge of how to defeat you." The guards all replied.

"What definitely scares me is that they're this intelligent and not cyborgs." Said Leena.

"More like Failborgs." Said Dash.

"Pun detected: Eradicate!" the guards said, immediately switching tactics and pressing the attack, surrounding Alpha from all sides.

Things quickly went from bad to worse. Ventra was the first to fall as multiple guards all shocked him and he fell to the floor, his suit completely deactivated.

Then Alaara followed.

"NO!"

Sandra charged in full of anger, only for the guards to down her as well.

Soon… only Austin remained… and he didn't last long either. The last thing the Helldiver saw before his vision went dark was the Commander standing over him.

"Lights out, Shepard."

* * *

Light slowly started to return to Austin's vision as he slowly opened his eyes. Almost every single muscle in his body ached from having such a high voltage coursing through it. As his vision cleared, he saw everyone else sitting beside him… only they appeared to be in their suit meshes, the armour nowhere to be seen.

"Shepard, thank the goddess you're alright." Said Alaara.

As she helped him up, Austin was able to see their surroundings a lot better. It was almost completely dark, and they appeared to be in some kind of cage. Austin would've thought they'd each be in a separate prison cell.

The place didn't smell very clean either, and there was the additional unmistakable smell of dead or rotting flesh.

"What… where are we?" he croaked.

"How can I put this lightly?" the Commander suddenly said as he emerged from the shadows. "You're in my world now."

Bright lights suddenly came on, revealing the rest of their surroundings.

Alpha's cage was next to several others, each one holding at least one prisoner, all of them aliens. None of them looked like Helldivers themselves, so it appeared they were normal civilians. Either way though, they were all prisoners like Alpha, and they were in a pretty poor state. Their clothes had practically been torn to rags, some even didn't have any. They were covered in dirt, blood, some of them even looked half dead.

The cages formed a half circle around a large variety of equipment, none of it looked pleasant. It was unmistakable that this place was a torture chamber… and the prisoners had to bear full witness.

"I reserve this place for very special guests. If ever an interrogation is needed, or someone needs a little… convincing, I bring them here." the Commander explained. "It's surprising just how much you can get out of people… once the pain starts."

"Might I ask how the hell you managed to get our armour off while we were in lockdown? And without setting off any of the security protocols as well?" Leena asked.

"What kind of question is that? I used to be one of you and I still have my suit. Do you really think I wouldn't have it studied to learn all there is to know?" The Commander replied. "Don't worry, I haven't had them melted down… yet."

"I swear, Rodriguez, when we get out of here you are gonna wish you were never born!" said Hawk.

"You think that scares me, Hawk? It's an empty threat." The Commander replied back calmly. "Besides, even if you attempt to escape…"

His gaze scanned the various other cages, as though he was looking for a specific prisoner to point out as an example.

He then took notice of one particular… an Asari, not much more than 10 years old.

"Open that cage." He ordered.

One of the nearby guards did so. The Asari recoiled back in fright as the Commander walked into her cage and grabbed her by the arm.

"No! No please! Leave me alone!" she cried, struggling as the Commander hauled her out.

"LET HER GO!" Alaara yelled.

"You see this Asari child? Let her serve as example to the lot of you of what happens to those who dare stand in my way."

The Commander hauled the Asari over to a nearby vat of some kind and pushed the lid off. An unmistakable hissing sound could be heard coming from the vat. Whatever it was, it was far from harmless.

The Commander forced the Asari's head right up close and she attempted to push herself away in desperation to stop herself from touching the liquid.

"Come now, don't you want some liquids? You must be so thirsty after all that time in your cage. Here, have a sip." Said the Commander.

He then pushed the poor Asari's head down just enough that her mouth touched the substance. The hissing suddenly got louder and the Asari screamed in pain

Now it was clear what was inside the vat. It was acid, and an incredibly strong one.

The Commander's expression as unreadable, but he looked like he was admiring what he had just done.

"I think you need a little more." He said.

"NO!"

Alaara could only watch helplessly, tears streaming down her cheeks as the Commander forced the entire Asari child's face into the acid. More and more scream could be heard as the Asari struggled to break free, but the Commander's immense strength was just too much. After several seconds, the Asari suddenly stopped her struggle, and went completely limp.

Very gently, the Commander lifted the Asari's face out of the acid.

The sight that greeted Alpha's eyes… well, it was s sight that would definitely haunt them forever. The poor Asari's' face had been completely eaten away. No eyes, pretty nothing.. All that remained was the flesh layers that the acid hadn't eaten.

"Hmm. I think it's actually an improvement. She looks less alien now." He said cruelly. He then did something even more cruel by giving the head a violent twist, causing it to become completely separated from the body, which fell to the floor. He then threw the head into Alaara's lap. "Here, have it as souvenir."

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!" Alaara yelled.

"Oh… I very much doubt that." Said the Commander calmly. "I suggest you all get used to each other's company and make yourselves at home, because I assure you… you're going to be here for a very, very long time. Tomorrow… well, let's just say I can't wait to show you my toys. If you have anything more to say, say it now. It'll be your last chance today."

Alpha didn't say anything. After what they'd just witnessed the Commander done, they weren't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Not even you, my dear?" the Commander asked, his gaze falling on Sandra.

Sandra simply looked up at the Commander, a cold look in her eyes.

"I have nothing to say. Least of all to you… **Father**."

Everyone suddenly looked at her in surprise. Had they just heard that? Sandra had just called the Commander father?

Austin could only guess she was doing this as some kind of escape plan. Try and confuse the Commander.

However… the Commander's response ended up being completely different to what they thought he might say.

"How long have you known?" he asked, his dark and terrifying voice still as clam as ever.

"Ever since I first learned your name." Sandra replied.

A few seconds passed with the Commander saying nothing. Then finally, without a word, he simply turned and left.

"Okay… I'm confused again. You said that to shock him, yet he completely went along with it. How the hell does that make sense?" Dash asked in confusion.

"Because I didn't say it to shock him, Dash." Sandra replied. "It was the truth."

"Sandra, I think you can drop the act now…" Dash began, but he didn't finish.

"I'M NOT LYING, DASH!" Sandra interrupted, her voice cracking and tears slowly streaking down her cheeks. "It wasn't a lie. **I** am the one he's been looking for. **I am his daughter**."

"But this can't be true. You told me you never knew your father." Said Austin.

"Never knew him in person, but I always knew his name. My mother's friend knew a lot." "I was told he was a Helldiver. That one of the reasons I joined, I hoped to find him. I hoped to somehow reconnect with him, have a family I'd so long been denied. Yet when I looked through the names of every Helldiver his name wasn't there. After that, I just assumed the man had faked it or something. But it was when Zartrack revealed the Commander's name that I realized the horrible truth." Sandra explained. "Remember what he said? The Commander's name was struck from all the records after he betrayed the Arkanes."

"I… I almost don't' want to believe It." said Austin.

"Trust me, Shepard. Neither do I." Alaara sighed.

"Hold on though, if you've known all this time, how'd you manage to keep this from Alaara if you two are bondmates?" Hawk asked in confusion.

"Because she didn't." Alaara replied.

"What?!"

"I share all her memories, just as she shares mine. When she realized the truth, so did I." said Alaara.

"I made her promise to keep this a secret, even from all of you." Sandra explained. "I'd hoped to one day tell you, but I didn't think I could ever bring myself to. How could I possibly say that I was the daughter of our arch enemy? How could I know how you would react? How could I know what would happen if you knew?"

No one replied.

"I hoped also that the Commander never found out, but sadly on the day he escaped from Arkadia he saw my face. Everybody who knew my mother always said I looked just like her."

"Well… this is… certainly something we never would've seen coming." Said Dash, trying to sound optimistic.

"Dash, I know you're trying to help, but maybe it would be best if you just kept your mouth shut." Said Kraan.

"For once, I actually agree."

"I can't imagine how horrible this must be for you, Sandra. I… I honestly don't know what to say." Said Austin.

"I don't expect you to say anything." Said Sandra. "I just hoped that revealing the truth to him somehow might give us a chance… but it didn't."

"Well we know now he's not going to kill you of all people. He may be a monster, but I doubt he'll kill his own daughter." Said Troy.

"Oh I think he will, Troy. I'm a Helldiver. I'm the thing he hates more than anything. He's probably going to let that override any thought of care he may have for me." Said Sandra.

* * *

The Commander looked out over the vast plains ahead. It almost reminded him of Inferno. Normally, he would've had Alpha taken to Hellspawn's main base there for torture but he was a very cautious man. A Helldiver, even in defeat, was still dangerous. He of all people knew this.

Thus he'd brought them to what he called his "Research Base" It was so named because his tortures, despite being horrible, did help him to learn a few useful things about his enemies. How to make them suffer without killing them, how their anatomy might work, and they also served as test subjects for his… secret weapon.

His contemplation was interrupted though when Shadow came up behind him. She bowed her head in respect as well as placing her arm across her chest, a Helldiver trait he'd passed on to her through his training.

"Master."

"Tyranny?"

"With all due respect, Master, why keep them alive? Might it not be more simple to just kill them all now?" Shadow asked.

"Because they're still useful to me. The possibilities of what we can learn from them are endless. Alpha squad are after all the best of the best."

"I… understand, sir." Shadow sighed, she did her best to mask her disappointment but it was no good.

The Commander though noticed this and put his arm on her shoulder.

"Have patience, my apprentice." He said, in a surprisingly reassuring way. "Rest assured, when I'm done with Shepard, he'll be all yours. You'll be able to settle the score with him soon enough."

"And what of the Russian? What of… your daughter?" Shadow asked.

"Oh I have big plans for her. Speaking of which, its time I spoke to her at long last."

He then turned to one of his bodyguards.

"Bring my daughter to me."

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

* * *

Alpha immediately took notice of the guards marching up to their cells.

"The human female will come with us!" they ordered.

"She's not going anywhere without us!" Dash yelled.

The guards however were quick to act and immediately shocked everyone with their staffs, causing them to scream in agony.

"NO! STOP! I'll come, just leave them alone." Sandra pleaded.

The guards stood down as Sandra slowly stood up and began to walk as the guards relocked the cell behind her, leaving the others to watch helplessly.

* * *

Sandra soon found herself in the main control centre, with a massive window overlooking the vast desert. No surprise Hellspawn had a base her. A place this remote, not even the Helldivers had a chance of finding it.

The guards made sure she kept the same pace as them as they marched her up to the Commander, who had his back to them as he once again looked out the window.

"Supreme Leader, the prisoner as ordered." They said.

The Commander slowly turned to face them.

"Those won't be necessary." He said, indicating to Sandra's shackles.

The moment her shackles were taken off however, Sandra immediately lunged at the Commander, her hands going round his throat. The guards immediately reacted and hit her multiple times with their staffs, the shocks causing her to cry out in agony.

"STOP!" the Commander yelled, causing the guards to immediately freeze. "Stun only! Do not kill her."

"Apologies, master."

"I should've killed you." Said Sandra coldly.

"And I should've killed you." Said the Commander, gently sinking down onto one knee until his helmet was eye level with Sandra.

Shadow, who'd also been standing there the whole time simply remained where she was, not saying a word and barely moving.

"There are times when I wish you had."

"Look at you, so much like your mother." The Commander said. He touched her face a bit before she forcefully shrugged it off. "You even have her eyes."

"Frankly, I'm glad to not take anything from you."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, dear daughter. You are a strong woman and a fierce fighter. You don't seriously think you got that from your mother as well do you?"

"Doesn't matter. Either way, I am ashamed to be your daughter. You're nothing but a monster to me!"

"I didn't choose to be this way, Sandra. I was forced to be. Life is cruel, unfair, always surrounding you with bad people and never shows mercy to you. I'm not the monster here, Sandra… it's those aliens. Those… things you call your friends, those… somehow smart creatures that you think are like us! They think the galaxy is theirs, they think they're so much cleverer than us! Think of all the harm they've done! To you… to me… to humanity! We have to live alongside them simply because those blind fools in the Alliance think we should coexist with them. They would, given their way… have us mate with them." He said in disgust. "To them, those… things are not so different from us. But they're wrong. They are nothing like us, and they never will be."

"You're fucking insane." Said Sandra.

"Oh no, dear daughter. I'm not insane, I'm just more open minded than other people." "I'd like to share with you a revelation that I've had. It came to me when I tried to classify non-human species. I realized that they're not actually life forms. Every life form in this galaxy instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but aliens do not. They move to a new area, and they multiply. And multiply until every natural resource is consumed until in the end the only way they can continue to survive is to spread to another area."

"Are we so different? Do you not remember how humanity used to before we became a part of something bigger?" Sandra asked.

"We are nothing like them! You tell yourself we are not that different, but all you're doing is letting that lie influence you until you're nothing but a simple drone, following orders that were laid by some person who went mad with compassion for things different and were then followed by those who are blind to the truth. It's only because those who can see are afraid of standing out, being outcasts that they don't' act differently. But I have no such fear. I embrace the difference proudly. I gladly call myself an outcast from the rest of humanity because I am the only one who truly sees, I am the only one who is truly willing to do what must be done." Said the Commander. "I suppose you may ask how can I be so unfazed at slaughtering these things I say are not life forms? Well, there is another organism in existence that follows the same pattern as the one I just mentioned. Do you know what it is?"

Sandra didn't reply.

"A virus." The Commander answered. "Aliens are a disease, a cancer of this galaxy. They're plague, and Hellspawn… is the cure. I'm going to be honest with you here and now, Sandra. I'm going to tell you something that no one has ever heard before from me. I… hate this galaxy. This… zoo. This prison… Whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell. I can taste the stink of everything non-human, everything not of our planet Earth, and I every time I do I feel as though I have somehow been infected by it, as though its burning me like the fires that burnt my whole face off, forcing me to forever be encased in this armour. It's repulsive, isn't it?"

Still Sandra did not reply. She didn't want to give her father any kind of satisfaction by saying anything to him.

"This galaxy has been sick long enough. It needs to be healed, and to do that I must eradicate every single diseased cell until only the healthy and pure ones remain."

"You're no better than Cerberus or the Terra Firma!" said Sandra.

"Oh you're quite wrong about that, daughter. Cerberus simply want Humanity to dominate the other races. A very noble cause, I won't deny, but they're ambition is so… limited. The Terra Firma meanwhile want humanity to stand completely apart from the other races. Also a noble cause, but the same problem with Cerberus, they're just not thinking big enough." Said the Commander. "I on the other hand wish to go all the way. Imagine it, a whole galaxy with just humanity. No more alien laws, no more Citadel Council treating us like filth, no more Batarians enslaving us, no more galactic wars, no more regulations holding us back for the sake of other races, just humanity as the ultimate… and only power in existence."

"And what then? Once you have your "perfect galaxy" what will you do with it?" Sandra asked.

"Simple really. We continue as we always have as a species. Under my rule, Humanity would be completely united as a race. No more petty differences, no more religions to divide us, no more discrimination against different coloured skin, no more civil wars for pieces of land or territories, no more rules or regulations regarding experiments or science projects that might be holding us back and preventing us from becoming more advanced, no more restrictions dictating what children can or cannot do. Just freedom for the human race, with me as its great leader." The Commander replied.

"Deceit and self-interest will never be virtues humanity honours." Said Sandra.

"You think so, do you?" the Commander asked.

"I know so. You claim you want to help humanity, yet you've never even been a part of it. You represent the worst in US!"

"And you, my daughter are so close to having your neck crushed. I should kill you for your insolence…" the Commander growled, his hand suddenly going around her throat, threatening to squeeze… but he soon let go after just a few seconds. "But I won't. You have so much more potential, Sandra. You do not yet realize your importance, but I can help you to."

He then stood up and turned his back to Sandra.

"Join me, my daughter. With our combined strength we could end all this needless conflict and bring order to the galaxy. Rule by my side and succeed me when I'm gone. All this and more will be yours, you would lead humanity to a new age."

"Go… fuck… yourself!" Sandra replied coldly.

"Defiant to the end…. but brave. Just like your mother." Said the Commander. "You make me proud in a way, Sandra, just as you would've made her proud too. But since you will not join me, you leave me no choice."

"Go ahead then, do it. I can die knowing that one day you will lose, and all your delusional dreams will come crushing down." Said Sandra, hanging her head as she braced for the inevitable.

"Oh don't worry, Sandra. I'm not going to kill you. Don't get me wrong, I will kill you eventually, but now is not the time. You may be a Helldiver, but you are still my daughter. So I will leave you for last. I speak the truth when I say it will be only time I regret taking a life." Said the Commander.

"Rest assured, I won't regret when I kill **you**." Said Sandra coldly.

"Take her back to her cell. We're done here." The Commander ordered.

The guards obeyed and marched off, taking Sandra with them.

"I'm… sorry it didn't go as you'd planned…" Shadow tried to say.

"She's made her choice, just as I made mine." The Commander simply said. "She and her friends can fight all they want, they won't stop what is to come, for them and all their kind."

* * *

The guards reopened the cell and threw Sandra back in, relocking the door behind her.

"Sandra! Are you alright? Did he hurt you?!"Alaara asked.

"I'm alright." Sandra replied, sitting up on her knees.

"What went on up there?" Leena asked.

"He asked me to join him. I told him were to shove it." Sandra replied. "I know that could've been a chance for me to try and release you, but I'd sooner break up with Alaara than do that, and that's never going to happen as long as I have breath in my body."

"I love you!" Alaara smiled as she hugged Sandra tightly.

"So what now?" Hawk asked.

"I won't lie to you… I don't know. I can't see any way for us to escape this place. No one else knows were here and we've now way of contacting help. I don't want to give up, but… I fear this may indeed be the end." Austin sighed.

"Whatever happens, we face it together… even till death." Said Dash optimistically.

"I fear tomorrow we're going to endure far worse."

* * *

Sure enough, that sentence was 100% correct.

Right now, Austin had been strung up to some kind of device that was keeping him firmly locked in place. What was unusual however was that the Commander had put him back inside his armour.

"You're probably wondering why I've put you back inside your suit, aren't you?" the Commander asked, slowly circling his prisoner as everyone else watched from within their cages.

"You're going easy on me because I'm human." Austin replied mockingly. "Not like you to go soft."

That was met however by the Commander suddenly touching a device to his armour which immediately electrocuted him with so much voltage it caused him enough pain to kill a normal human. His suit was protecting him, but he still felt the pain.

"Hardly. You probably know this already but Helldiver armour is what protects you from high amounts of voltage that would normally be lethal to a normal human." The Commander explained. "What you probably don't know however is that the suit absorbs it and converts it to power by use of a default setting. If that setting is turned off, it simply lets you get electrocuted. The armour still protects you of course… but you feel every last volt coursing through your body."

"Shocking, isn't it." the Commander said in a very cruel way.

"We're POWs, you bastard!" Austin groaned through gritted teeth.

"You really think I care about some rule that was invented decades ago? Hellspawn isn't a military. Besides, even if it were, Helldivers are not a recognized uniform to us, so this armour invalidates your rights. Aliens, have no rights at all here either. So to tell you the truth, I'm free to do with you all as I please." Said the Commander.

"This the part where you start asking us questions then?" Austin panted as the pain started to fade.

"What could you possibly tell me that I don't already know?" the Commander replied. "Besides, torturing you for no reason is way more fun... for me at least."

"What's the point of all this then? If you're not gonna question us, why not just kill us?"

"You don't fear death. You welcome it. Your punishment must be more severe."

By the time Austin's torture was over, he'd been electrocuted so many times, he could barely feel some of his muscles. He was strong, but even he had a threshold.

* * *

The next day the Commander selected Dash. Already the Scout was taking a hard beating, literally. The Commander had bound his arms behind his back and was beating him hard with only his fists. Unlike Austin, Dash hadn't bene put back in his armour.

Already, the floor was stained with blood, and Dash's' face was covered in blood and bruises.

The Commander hit him again really hard in the chest, causing Dash to groan once again in pain.

"Now that one looked like it really hurt." The Commander said.

Dash tried to speak, but he seemed to only be able to manage a weak whisper.

"You might want to speak up, kid. I think you may have a collapsed lung. That always impedes the auditory." Said the Commander, leaning in close.

As the Commander brought Dash's head up however the Scout suddenly spat blood right onto one of his helmet's eyes. Angered by this, he threw Dash's head back onto the floor.

"Now that was rude!" he said, wiping the blood off his eye. "Your other teammates at least have some manners."

Dash managed to turn his head to face the Commander, baring a smug, but blood stained, smile.

"I suppose I'm going to have to teach you a lesson for doing that." Said the Commander.

"Worst you can do is bore me to death. You may act all scary, but once people get to know you, they stop being afraid." Said Dash weakly.

"I suppose you're right…" said the Commander. His gaze then fell slightly.

Without any kind of warning he then suddenly raised his foot and brought it right down on one of Dash's' legs so hard there was unmistakable loud crack. Dash screamed in pain as his leg was completely broken by the force.

"But that should change things."

Dash gritted his teeth as best he could in attempt to fight the constant agony he was now in.

"Not so confident and cocky now, huh? No smartass comment for this?" the Commander asked, circling Dash. "Maybe I need to hit a little… harder!"

He then stomped on Dash's other leg. There was another loud crack and once again Dash cried out in pain.

"The thing you're good at most in your squad, and I've just taken it away. I guess you could say I've… defeated you."

"That's lame, even by your standards." Dash laughed weakly, despite that his eyes were watering from the pain.

"Hmmm. Still not thorough enough I see." Said the Commander, somewhat impressed by Dash's resilience.

"I hope you have something better than broken legs in mind, because if my own team mates couldn't shut me, I doubt you will."

"Well… unlike your friends… I'm not afraid to do this."

The Commander then swung a punch right at Dash face, hitting him so hard there was another loud crack. Another scream once again came from Dahs, but this time it was different. He was keeping his mouth shut.

The Commander had broken his jaw.

"Lost for words now, aren't we?" the Commander asked cruelly. "Oh, do cheer up. How about giving us a nice… big… smile?"

Dash only replied with an angry mumble.

"Fine. Have it your way."

Grabbing him by the neck, the Commander threw him back into the cage with the others.

"Don't worry, you'll heal soon enough. But those injuries are the first of many. Never forget that."

* * *

The following day it was now Leena's turn. Alpha was worried the most about her. Any exposure to the outside world could potentially kill her. Despite how strong and muscular she was, her immune system was the same as any Quarians.

"Now your session is definitely going to be difficult for me. Despite my extensive knowledge of your species anatomy, there's only so much I can do without killing you. You're tough, yes, but with these poor immune systems you have, I can barely do anything before you get killed." Said the Commander.

"Guess you can only threaten me then." Said Leena.

"Now whoever said I was gonna do that?" the Commander asked rhetorically. "To make you suffer, I don't need to break limbs, or cut something off… I just need to do one… little… thing…"

He then suddenly grabbed Leena's mask, and ripped it right off. Leena almost immediately held her breath. Skin contact alone would probably make her sick. Breathing the air in here… there was no telling what that would do to her.

"Hold your breath all you like. You're already exposed. That alone is going to make you sick for a while." Said the Commander.

Leena remained unfazed and continued holding her breath in desperation. So far she showed no sign of struggling and as a result, the Commander soon got bored of it.

"Fine… I've run out of patience."

He then punched Leena hard in the stomach, forcing the breath out of her and her body instinctively forced her to breathe again.

"That's it. Take deep slow breaths." Said the Commander cruelly.

Because Leena was facing away from the cages, no one saw her face. As the Commander observed the Quarian closely he could already see Leena's eyes had gone bloodshot. Then she started coughing.

"That'll be all for you. Anymore and you may die." He said, placing Leena's helmet back on.

As the guards forced the now very sick Quarian back into her cell, the Commander sought out his next victim. His gaze soon fell on Ventra.

"The Turian next…"

One of the soldiers standing guard hauled Ventra to his feet, while at the same time keeping the rest of Alpha from interfering, despite their best efforts.

"Now you're kind, I have quite a bit of knowledge on when it comes to anatomy. There were already quite a few studies conducted on them by humans during the first contact war. So already I know plenty of ways to make you scream." Said the Commander as Ventra was strapped in place.

"That supposed to frighten me?" Ventra asked bravely.

"No. Now is not the time for fear." The Commander, leaning in close enough for Ventra to hear the fallen Helldiver's suit breathing air into his almost dead lungs. "That comes later."

The Commander took notice of Ventra's fingers. The Turian also noted how he seemed to be eyeing his three fingered hands.

"Oh how easy it would be. One little movement of my hand and…"

Several loud cracks suddenly followed, followed by a cry of pain from Ventra as the Commander did exactly what he'd just said.

"Couldn't help it." he shrugged, his other hand holding one of Ventra's mandibles in a mocking way.

"You know, it really does puzzle me how you can talk with these things. I once tired an experiment on another Turian but he unfortunately died without a word. I guess now's as good a time as any."

The Commander walked up to the nearby vat of acid he'd used on the Asari and took a small scoop out of it.

"I trust you're familiar with this?"

Ventra began to struggle as he gazed almost in fright at the container as the Commander slowly drew closer and closer.

He then seized Ventra by the neck, holding him in place. Ventra struggled even more violently against the Commander's grip, but it was no use. Very slowly, the Commander tipped the container and allowed the acid to pour onto Ventra's left mandible.

The Turian screamed in agony as the acid began eating into his mandible. Within just a few seconds, the acid had eaten it completely away. All that was left was the part where it joined to his face.

"Still able to speak?" the Commander asked cruelly.

"Fuck you!" Ventra spat, fighting the pain as best he could.

"Still some fight left in you. Very admirable." Said the Commander.

His hand then shifted to one of Ventra's head crests.

"Tell me, do you feel through these?" he asked.

"If you…"

"You'll do what? I've bent your fingers out of place. Without them, your bow is essentially useless. Besides, I'm sure you don't need all these crests." Said the Commander.

There was another loud crack followed by another cry of pain.

In the Commander's hand was the broken off head crest.

"Hmm. Even in males, it's pure bone. Quite fascinating, I must admit."

* * *

Now it was Troy's turn.

"Now I'm afraid I have some very bad news for you, Troy." The Commander said.

"Why? Get anymore of your face burnt off?!" Troy retorted.

This was met with backhand to the face, causing Troy to spit blood.

"I'd almost forgotten how much a smartass you can be." The Commander growled. "No. The news is that I won't be torturing you today. You see, Trojan made a request that she be the one to do it. She has some unfinished business with apparently."

Said cyborg immediately emerged from the shadows and walked up to the bound Troy.

"I can't believe you'd do this, Sonya. After everything you and I went through? What we had? You'd just forget it completely?" said Troy.

"Is it really so surprising? You broke her heart. And besides, she doesn't even have it anymore." Said the Commander.

"I don't believe that. I still believe the woman I once loved is still inside that shell."

Trojan's head tilted to the side slightly as if in surprise.

"Show him." The Commander ordered.

Trojan removed her trench coat and let it fall at her clawed feet. She then activated her Omni tool and pressed several buttons.

Several loud hisses followed and steam shot of several points on Trojan's body as panels began to open. First her lower legs opened up, revealing only cybernetic legs, then her upper legs, both her arms, and finally her torso opened.

Troy's eyes went wide at what he saw. He'd expected to see some of Sonya's human body by now. The organic parts that were still left of it, but no… all that was there was a see through compartment of bubbling liquid, and inside it... was Trojan's spinal cord. Various tubes and wires were connected to various parts of the spine, most likely so that Trojan had a direct connection to her body.

Apart from that, all that was inside Trojan's torso was her body's internal exoskeleton. No lungs, no heart, nothing.

"Oh Christ."

Then finally steam emitted from Trojan's head. Parts of the screen that made up her mask shifted, unlocking it.

Trojan slowly reached up and grasped it in her hand. Then she slowly lifted it away…

If Troy hadn't been shocked before, he was definitely now.

The see through container that housed Trojans' spinal cord extend all the way up, even into the head itself, and inside the head… was her brain. Like her spinal cord, which the brain was still connected to, various tubes and wires were also connected into the brain. There were even ever several computer chips fused to the brain in various places along with what was very clearly a CPU.

Troy had expected to see Sonya's face, or at least her eyes glaring back at him, but they were gone too. Nothing else whatsoever, just the brain and the bit of the spinal cord that needed to be connected.

"Holy Christ! There's nothing left!" said Troy, sounding almost like he might be sick. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!"

"I saved her. It was either this or die, she chose to live on. She took the path that many would've refused, the cold road to immortality." Said the Commander.

Troy once again looked back at Trojan. He'd still been clinging on to some hope that the woman he'd loved was still inside there and that she'd only lost her limbs at best. But this… a brain in a jar…

"Sonya is dead, Troy. There is only Trojan." Said the Commander. "Your girlfriend died long ago when she took a vow silence to prove her loyalty to me. She even went so far as to cut out her own tongue to ensure she never broke it."

Troy was all the more shocked by this. Sonya had gone so far as to self-mutilate herself?

"Nevertheless, the memories of how you broke her heart still haunt her, and now she wants you to suffer for it."

Trojan placed her mask back on and it resealed. The panels on her body also resealed and she also put her trench coat back on.

She then reached forward and touched Troy's shoulder. The second her cold metal hands touched him he was electrocuted. Unlike Austin, he didn't' have his suit on, so the voltage was a lot lower to the point where it wouldn't be lethal, but still enough to cause Troy excruciating pain.

It was pretty much the same for the next few hours. Dozens of electric shocks followed by a few beatings. To be honest though, Troy got off pretty easy. It did indeed seem like the human members of Alpha weren't' getting it too bad compared to the aliens.

* * *

When it finally came round to Alaara's turn, everyone was nervous about this one especially. Sandra in particular feared what the Commander would do to her bondmate. Even though Alaara was a battle hardened 300 year old Asari, she was still the most sensitive of Alpha. Already she had been almost in tears upon seeing the Commander murder that Asari child.

"If you think I'm gonna let you or any one of your men rape me, think again. Touch me, and I'll bite your dick off!" she said defiantly.

"I may be a cruel man, but even I have my limits. Besides, I wouldn't even dream of letting my men dirty themselves with your filth." Said the Commander.

"Now you're just being mean." Said Alaara smugly.

The Commander then walked up to another nearby table and picked up what everyone immediately recognized as the whip that Hawk used.

"I must say, Hawk, this is a very interesting whip. Sharp as well. Why don't we find out just how sharp?" he asked.

Sandra could immediately tell where this was going and began banging on her cell bars.

"Leave her alone, you bastard!" she yelled.

Despite the constant pounding, the Commander ignored her as he slowly walked up behind Alaara.

He then grasped Alaara's clothing and with one tug tore it right off, leaving her completely exposed.

"Let's see. Start with… 25."

Sandra's shouting and banging only intensified. Very slowly, the Commander unfurled the whip and let it drop to the floor.

Alaara tried to struggle all she could, but she knew it was inevitable. Despite still trying desperately you break free, she shut her eyes and braced herself.

The Commander then cast the whip back… and swung.

* * *

The familiar whiplash sound echoed throughout the entire prison and it was all Alaara could do to not scream as she grit her teeth in pain as blood dripped from the dozens of open wounds on her back.

Despite that it was over quickly, the pain of both experiencing and having to watch it was still in everyone's mind, apart from the Commander of course.

"I'm impressed. Feared you might pass out from It." he said.

Alaara didn't' give him the satisfaction of replying and just stared at him, an angry look in her eyes.

"So much blood. Why don't I clean them for you?" the Commander asked rhetorically as he touched one of Alaara's open counts painfully. He then released her from the device and forced her over to the acid vat. He noticed Alaara's somewhat panicked expression. "Oh don't' worry. No acid this time. This time, it's just good old fashioned water."

He instead lead her over to another one, this one containing just water. Alaara was quick to notice some very familiar objects of some kind floating in the water. Before she had time to react though, the Commander immediately grabbed the back of her head and forced it right into the water.

Alaara almost immediately felt the air rush out of her lungs as her entire face was submerged in ice cold water.

Unable to struggle against the Commander immense strength Alaara almost felt as though she'd pass out. Fortunately before that could happen, the Commander finally pulled her face back out of the water and she immediately took a sharp intake of breath.

"Oh, did I forget to mention the ice? Well, now you know." He said cruelly.

The torture went one for another hour before the Commander finally felt Alaara had had enough.

* * *

Now came Sandra's turn. Alpha had thought the Commander wouldn't' torture her, but it seemed even she wasn't exempt from it.

"Definitely an advantage that Helldivers have is that you can take the punishment a lot more than you normally could." Said the Commander.

Sandra didn't say anything. Number 1 because she didn't want to give him the satisfaction, and Number 2 because he was beating her constantly.

"So of course, I don't need to hold back as much." He continued. "Though you'd be surprised just how resilient sentient life is. Even when impaled directly on a spike, they'll still cling to life as much as they can. My famous ancestor himself learned this."

"Boring me with a history lesson now?" Sandra asked.

"You're his descendant too, daughter." Said the Commander. "No doubt you've heard the name, Vlad Tepes before?"

"Tepes?" Ventra asked in confusion.

"It means the Impaler. He was a bloodthirsty butcher." Austin explained. "Inflicted unspeakable tortures on innocents. Cutting off their hands and feet, gouging out their eyes, and then impaling them on iron spikes."

"They had it coming." Said the Commander.

"And what makes you think you're his descendant?" Sandra asked.

"I found records confirming it. I'm descending from him through a long lost blood lien that went into hiding, and eventually even forgot about their ancestry. Through my mother, I inherit this."

"And **your** father?" Sandra asked.

The Commander's reply however came in the form of another punch.

"Do not ever speak of him!" he said. "Anyway, I'm sure that if he knew about all this and could see me now… he'd be proud. I have built an organization so sinister, and so powerful… by comparison it makes the empire of Genghis Khan seem like a water pistol."

The torture went on, like before, for another hour or so before it was finally over.

"I think you've had enough now. You may have had it easy, but we don't want to ruin that pretty little face now, do we?" said the Commander as he threw Sandra back in the cell.

* * *

Hawk, being the usual defiant one that he was, had resisted the most. Even now as he was strapped in place he was still trying to break free.

The Commander though remained calm and unaffected regardless.

"I had planned to use your own whip on you, Hawk. But I've changed my mind." He said, taking something out of what was undeniably a furnace of some kind. "I think instead, we'll go for something more… hot."

Sure enough, in his hands was an iron, the end red hot.

"Don't expect me to beg, Rodriguez. You're only making it worse for yourself, because when I get the chance, I'm doing the same to you… tenfold." Said Hawk.

"Oh, you really shouldn't have said that." Said the Commander.

"And why is that? Is the man with a burnt face getting angry?" Hawk asked mockingly.

The Commander was silent for a moment, the question obviously sparking a somewhat painful memory for him.

"No, you just gave me the idea of what to brand you with."

He then touched the tip of the iron to Hawk's skin. The Helldiver screamed in pain as the Commander slowly drew the number 10 onto his skin as a burn.

"Agh you son of a bitch!" Hawk groaned.

"Threaten me all you like, Hawk. It's not gonna scare me, not like how I can scare you." Said the Commander.

With the hotness ultimately having gone out of the iron, the Commander put it back. He then got an idea when he spotted another torture device on his nearby table. Alpha watched nervously as he picked up a knife.

"Now this is definitely one thing you won't be able to do to me." He said. "You see, I don't have any eyes due to my eyelids being burnt off. Thus I have a special implant connected to my brain that receives a signal from my helmets optics. They are my new eyes now, and I don't feel pain if they got cut off or destroyed. I can just repair them."

Hawk began to struggle again upon realizing what the Commander intended to do.

"You on the other hand… you don't' have the advantage." Said the Commander, grabbing Hawk's face and forcing his right eye open. "I am very tempted to force you to share Shadow's perception of things."

Hawk tried to struggle, but he couldn't' break free. Both he and everyone else watched, frozen in shock as the knife edged closer and closer to Hawk's eye. It was just about to touch…

The door suddenly opened and a Hellspawn soldier walked in and stood to attention.

"What is it?" the Commander growled, angry at having been interrupted.

"Sorry to disturb you, Supreme Leader. But, Mr Arma is requesting your presence. He says its important." The soldier replied.

"One moment of peace. Can he not give me that?" the Commander sighed in annoyance. "Go and tell him I'll be there in just a second."

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

The soldier left and turned his attention back to Hawk.

"Saved by the bell it seems." He said.

* * *

Thornton was currently looking out over the empty planes. He turned to face the Commander as he heard the fallen Helldiver's metal footsteps.

"This had better be worth the interruption, Thornton." The Commander said, glaring down at Thornton.

"Why are you still keeping them alive?" Thornton asked crossly. "I thought Hellspawn's goal was to wipe out the Helldivers."

"How many times do I have to have this conversation with you, Thornton?!" the Commander said, crossing his arms in annoyance.

"Have you forgotten why I truly joined you?" Thornton asked. "I'm not in this for the money, or the booming business, not truly. For me, this is personal."

"Don't think for a minute that I have forgotten, Thornton. I know you want them dead as much as I do because they put your father out of business."

"You promised me we'd kill every Helldiver. Yet you're keeping them alive? Why?!"

"You know damn well why!"

"Oh I see. You don't want to kill your own daughter."

"My daughter has nothing to do with this, Thornton." The Commander growled, the tone of his almost demonic like voice causing a cold chill to run down Thornton's spine. "Alpha have vita knowledge on Helldiver operations. Killing them will just be a complete waste. Besides, do you not want them to suffer?"

"Fuck their suffering! I just want them dead!"

"Let me ask you something, Thornton. Do you truly hate them for putting your father out of business? Or is it because the loss of your father's business caused him to abuse you, and you refuse to blame him?" the Commander asked. "Because the way I see it, you want someone to blame for what you endured, and the way see it there are two party's responsible: Your father, or them, and you appear to have chosen them.

"Even if I changed my mind now, what good would it do me?" Thornton replied. "My father's dead."

"Your refusal to blame him because of some family relation really does surprise me, Thornton."

"Could you want your own mother and father dead?"

The Commander remained silent for a moment before replying.

"My mother tried to kill me." He said, sounding as though he was barely containing his anger. "And in return, I burnt her… alive."

Thornton was somewhat shocked by this and lost for words.

"I will forgive your disrespect this time, Thornton. But let me be clear, should you ever dare to insult me or fall out of line again, I will be forced to… terminate our association, and you'll realise just how dependant on me you've really become. Am I understood?" the Commander asked.

"Yes… sir." Thornton replied, somewhat reluctantly.

"Good."

* * *

His argument with Thornton had fortunately caused the Commander to forget about what he was going to do with Hawk. Instead, the following day he had moved on to Kraan, and he didn't waste any time.

The very first thing he had done was take a knife and shove it right into where Kraan's plate attached to his head.

"I'll bet that hurt, didn't it? Believe me, that's nothing compared what I'm about to do. Because I've got it stuck in just right." He said.

Kraan's eyes widened as he realized what the Commander was planning to do.

"Oh yes… I've had plenty of other Krogan to practice on and I've become extremely efficient and tearing their plates. I'm told the mere thought of it drives you mad."

Kraan was almost petrified with shock, so much so that he was frozen with fear.

"Leave him alone!" Hawk yelled.

"I'll deal with you in a second, once I've taught this weak creature some respect." Said the Commander. "I'm going to count to three, there will not be a four. After that… I think you can guess."

The Commander grasped the handle of the knife and readied himself.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Thr…"

"I thought you were supposed to get stronger the madder you got. Well get mad, you dumb monster!" Alaara yelled.

What happened next took everyone by surprise, including the Commander. Kraan's left hand quite literally broke free of the restraint and grabbed the Commander's arm.

"I'M ALREADY MAD!" Kraan growled, his eyes opening, revealing to be almost completely blood shot red.

"Impossible!" the Commander said in shock.

Kraan then broke completely free and head-butted the Commander so hard he fell into ice water vat. Before the fallen Helldiver had a chance to get out, Kraan immediately sealed the vat back up, trapping the Commander inside.

Kraan then walked up to the Alpha's cage door and managed to tear it off. He panted angrily several times before he managed to calm down as his eyes returned to normal.

"How the hell did you do that?" Leena asked weakly, still rather sick from her exposure.

"Blood rage. Never thought that'd happen under stress though." Kraan replied. "You alright?"

"I'll survive. You?" Hawk replied.

"I have a knife stuck in my head… I'm good."

"Someone's gonna have to carry Dash. There's no way he can walk like that." Said Austin.

"I will, you'll need Kraan and anyone else in good condition to fight." Leena coughed.

"Are you sure, Leena? In your current state the exertion could be fatal." Said Sandra.

"I may be sick, but I still have 275 lbs of muscle. Dash weighs nothing by comparison, and for once that wasn't an insult." Leena replied.

Dash gave a mumbled grunt of pain as Leena picked him up and slung him over her shoulders.

"We don't have much time. Someone will have probably…"

Sure enough, the doors suddenly burst open and a squad of Hellspawn soldiers burst in, their guns all trained on the suit less Alpha.

"Don't move!"

"Oh bloody hellfire." Austin sighed, putting his hand sup.

"Back in your cages! NOW!"

To everyone's surprise however, a still naked Alaara suddenly appeared almost out of nowhere and actually started to fight the soldiers.

A backflip alone took out at least 3 soldiers and she then kicked the one to her right hand side in the face. At the same time, she even grabbed one of the soldier's guns and threw it into the face of another.

Two more soldiers opened fire, but Alaara literally slid under the legs of a third one and then used him as a shield. Naturally of course, the soldier was dead within seconds and Alaara was quick to discard the body as she threw at the two soldiers who had shot him. The body only knocked one down, but it did distract the other long enough for Alaara to suddenly lunged at him, as she latched onto his neck, she swung around the soldier, kicking another right in the face and causing his neck to snap. Even without her armour, Alaara had a strong kick.

Another soldier attempted to shoot from the side, but Alaara kicked him to the ground too. A second attempted the same, and Alaara kicked him too. At the same time, she then threw the soldier she'd been latched on to the floor. In her crouched position, Alaara's eyes took a quick moment to scan the area.

She noted definite movement out of the corner of her eye as one of the soldiers who been knocked down earlier was getting back up and reaching for one of the rifles. The nude Asari immediately reacted. She grabbed the soldier's arm just as he managed to grab the rifle and forced it away from her and latched both her thighs around his neck. The soldier struggled to free himself, but was unable to overcome the strength of Alaara's legs. The Asari then gave his wrist a violent twist, causing it to crack violently as the gun fell from his hand.

Alaara finally did the same with her hips. There was another crack and the soldier went limp as his neck broke.

"Nice work, Alaara, despite how… exposed you were." Said Austin, trying to ignore the fact that Alaara was still nude.

"Not my first time. I've done some of my best work naked." Alaara panted proudly, not even bothering to try and cover herself up as she picked herself up.

"She has, believe me." Said Sandra. "And no, I'm not talking about sex. She once fought a whole squad of blue sun mercs naked with nothing but a towel as a weapon."

"Well after seeing that, I won't argue." Said Austin.

"I think it's about time we got out of this hell hole." Said Hawk.

"Yes…"

Austin paused as he looked at all the other prisoners.

"… **all of us**."

* * *

Out of armour, and this time battered and bruised, Alpha had never felt more vulnerable. What's more, they had dozens of prisoners to escort as well.

For whatever reason however, Alpha managed to make it, completely undetected, to where Hellspawn had been keeping their suits.

Everyone immediately opened them up and got back into them. Even Dash was able to get back into his, but he was forced to put it in lockdown and allow Leena to still carry him since both his legs were still broken.

As Alaara sealed her own armour back up, having also managed to finally redress in her suit mesh, she then set about re-holstering all her weapons, as did the rest of Alpha. It was as she got to her stun stick however she suddenly noticed something.

There was her stun stick… and right next to it was another. It was completely identical. Alaara had to admit, she'd always thought her stuns stick was one of a kind.

As she took both sticks in her hand, she tested the weight and then gave them both an experimental swing. They both felt exactly the same.

"Hmm. It's pretty much a perfect copy. I'm sure Rodriguez won't mind if I take It." she said.

"Dual wield, huh? Good idea." Said Sandra.

"Learned from watching you, love." Alaara smiled.

With their armour back on, Alpha did at least have a better chance of defending themselves. But that didn't mean they could relax yet. After all, most of them were in rather bad condition, and they had all the other prisoners to defend.

A sudden loud noise caused everyone to halt. Then followed the unmistakable sound of fighting, and it appeared to be coming from the nearby hanger which coincidently enough was where Alpha had also been heading in hopes of escaping.

"Hold up."

The prisoners remained behind while those of Alpha that could fight took up position by the door leading into where the fighting could be heard.

"On three." Said Austin. "One… two… three."

Sure enough the sight of Hellspawn troopers greeted Alpha's eyes, so that didn't surprise them. What did surprise them however was who they were fighting against.

"Zartrack?"

Sure enough, there was Zartrack… and Xun and X-5 and another Helldiver with a cyborg arm. Austin immediately knew who that was.

That Helldiver was none other than General Matt Shepard, Austin's father.

It wasn't long before they'd dealt with the last of the Hellspawn troopers and were quick t notice Alpha and all the prisoners.

"Shepard!"

"What are you doing here?" Austin asked, surprised, but pleasantly so.

"Rescuing you and Alpha." Zartrack replied.

"How'd you find us?"

"We got worried when you were overdue." Matt replied, finally speaking for the first time. "With help from Alexa and Telrass we traced your last known signal and managed to eventually find our way here."

There was a sudden explosion as one of the hanger's walls was completely destroyed. When the smoke, dust and debris cleared it revealed none other than Alpha's gunship, carrying the Hellraiser beneath it.

"And that must be the cavalry." Said Zartrack.

The moment Zartrack finished however a small army of Hellspawn troopers burst into the hanger, behind them was the Commander, Hades, Shadow and Trojan.

The Commander instantly noticed his former mentor among everyone.

"Master. How fortuitous I should find you here." He said.

"We're walking out of here, Rodriguez." Said Zartrack.

"I think not. If anything, I think you'll be joining them."

"Over our dead bodies."

"As you wish." The Commander sighed. "Hades."

Hades slowly began to walk towards the Helldivers, cracking his knuckles and ready for a fight.

"I'll warn you right now, I'm not afraid to hit a woman, or an old man. So I suggest you…"

He was interrupted however when Matt suddenly walked forward and punched Hades with his cyborg arm. The punch caught the muscled giant completely off guard and he was literally sent flying several feet before crashing hard into a wall.

"And we're not afraid to hit you either." Said Matt.

"Well, that's made things more interesting." Said the Commander, a slight hint of surprise in his voice. He then turned to his men. "Kill them. I want Alpha alive."

The troopers all opened fire, forcing everyone into cover. The gunship though returned fire, forcing some of the troopers to also take cover.

Austin and some of the others readied to engage but Zartrack stopped him.

"No. Stay back. Most of you are in no condition to fight. Besides, we need someone to protect the other prisoners. Get in your gunship and head back to the main fleet." He said.

"But..."

"That's an order.

Austin knew better than to argue and simply nodded. Whilst he and the others headed for the gunship as it provided cover fire, Zartrack, X-5 and Xun all engaged the Hellspawn troopers. Only Matt did not engage since he was focusing solely on Hades who had just recovered from earlier.

Before the giant had enough time to react, Matt immediately charged. The sheer force of his charge pushed Hades right back. When the Hellspawn giant finally managed to slow them both down he attempted to grab at something in order to attack, but Matt once again turned the tables. With his cyborg arm, he grabbed Hades and literally threw him other his head and hard onto the ground. Matt attempted another punch while Hades was down, but he quickly rolled out of the way and onto his feet. At the same time he also swung a punch at Matt, but the Helldiver blocked it with his metal hand.

Matt then gave the wrist a violent twist electing a painful grunt from Hades. Matt then followed this with several punch to the face and the torso. Normally Hades could take this kind of thing because of his enhanced body and armour, but this... this Helldiver was actually hurting him. Previously only Kraan had given him a challenge.

Hades finally got an opening and landed a punch on Matt with enough force that it sent him flying into a nearby crate, which became dented from the impact of the Helldiver's armour.

"Not bad for an old timer." Hades panted, slowly walking up to Matt.

"Age only slows you down if you let It." said Matt as he picked himself up.

"I'll bear that in mind."

Hades then once again swung a punch. Matt once again grabbed this one. This time however he forced Hades' fist to his right and used his cyborg arm to punch Hades across the helmet. He then followed this with a kick to the back of Hades' knee, causing him to stumble to his knees.

Before the Hellspawn giant had a chance to try and attack again, Matt grabbed him from the back by the neck and flung him down onto another nearby crate. The force of Hades' armoured helmet caused the crate to become dented and crushed under the force and weight. Matt then followed this with another punch which caused Hades' head to dent the crate even further.

As Hades finally managed to get back up, he swung as he turned. Matt backed away just enough and the fist missed him. Hades attempted another attack with his other fist, but Matt blocked it. He then grabbed Hades with both hands and threw him violently to the floor.

As Matt swung another punch at Hades however, the giant managed to avoid it, causing the Helldiver to miss. Hades immediately seized the chance while Matt had his back to him and punched him hard, sending him flying into a Hellspawn fighter, completely smashing it in half.

When the Helldiver finally managed to get himself free, he found Hades right in front of him. He attempted a punch with his metal arm, but Hades grabbed it, forced it away and then used his other hand to grab him by the neck. Lifting the Helldiver up off his feet and then smashed him down on the floor hard.

With the Helldiver down, Hades seized the chance and punched him hard. There was a loud clang as Hades' fist connected with Matt's helmet, but it didn't appear t do any significant damage.

When Hades attempted another punch Matt was ready for it this time. He moved his head to the side, causing Hades' fist to miss and hit the ground instead. He then grabbed onto it with both hands and pushed both his feet against Hades' face.

In an attempt to shake the Helldiver off, Hades smashed him several time against the wreckage of the fighter Matt had smashed earlier. This caused the Helldiver's grip to loosen and Hades was able to throw him back onto the floor.

Matt however reacted before Hades was able to attack again. He swung a sharp kick at both Hades' legs, causing the giant to fall flat on his back.

With Hades dazed by the fall, Matt seized the chance. He grabbed Hades with his cyborg arm and literally threw him up against a nearby crumbled wall so hard that it caused so much wreckage to fall on him he was completely buried. Any normal human would almost certainly have been killed by that, regardless of how tough and strong they were.

"Well that takes care of him." Matt said to himself.

* * *

Alpha and their gunship meanwhile had made it back to the Endeavour along with several other ships of the Helldiver fleet.

As soon as they were docked Alexa especially seemed overjoyed to see everyone again.

"Thank goodness you're alright." She said as she literally flung her arms around Troy and hugged him, much to the Spy's surprise.

"Why does he get a hug?" Kraan asked in confusion.

Alexa suddenly realised that everyone else was present and immediately let g.

"Errr, anyway..." she said embarrassingly.

"Wait. Where's Sandra?" Telrass asked.

"I swear I saw her get on. I..." said Alaara. And then she realized where her bond mate had gone. "Oh no..."

* * *

The Commander watched the battle that was taking place from the top of one of the facilities buildings. The loss of this facility was a shame, but it hardly worried him. After all, this wasn't Hellspawn's main fortress. He would never be stupid enough to have everything take place there, if he did the organization might have compromised long ago.

"FATHER!"

The Commander didn't need to turn to know who it was. He'd recognize Sandra's voice anywhere.

"I knew you'd come." He said, slowly turning to face her. "Are you going to kill me then?"

"I would certainly like to." Sandra replied coldly.

"In your weakened state? I doubt it." Said the Commander.

"Enough talk."

Sandra drew both her Sais and readied for a fight.

"You won't beat me, Sandra. You can't." The Commander said calmly.

"I can sure as hell try."

"Have it your way then… daughter."

With a sigh, he drew his sword.

Sandra was the first to attack as she ran right at the Commander and thrust. For some reason he didn't even bother to try and defend himself. To Sandra's utter surprise, both her Sais tore right through the Commander's armour and stabbed into his abdomen.

Sandra was almost left in shock that she'd actually managed to do that. What worried her right now however was that the Commander didn't appear to be showing any sign of pain. He hadn't even cried out when the Sais stabbed into him.

What happened next however was completely unexpected. The Commander swung his sword inside and it connected with both Sais. The sheer force of it broke them completely.

Sandra only had a moment to process this before the Commander then kicked her, causing her to fall hard on her back. When she got up not her knees she looked in shock at her now broken Sais. After all she's been through, all that these Sais had done... and they were broken.

"As I said before..." the Commander said, still showing no sign of pain at all.

In anger, Sandra thrust with her right, hoping somehow that her broken sai could still do some damage. The Commander however raised her hand and actually let the remainder of the blade stab right through his left hand. As before, he didn't emit any kind of cry in pain. All he seemed to do was grunt ever so slightly. While this did seem to hurt, it didn't hurt to the same extent that it would a normal human. A small amount of blood appeared to be trickling out of the wound, but once again it didn't look like the Commander was hurt by it. Sandra couldn't help but notice how while the blood was still red like any other human blood, it was a much darker red, almost as though it had black tar mixed into it or something like that.

"You can't kill me."

Shocked once again, Sandra attempted another desperate thrust with her left, but the Commander countered it with his sword. At the same time his left fist came back, allowing the sai to slide out. Sandra attempted to lunge with her right again, but the Commander blocked that too and pushed it down. He then head butted Sandra, causing her to stagger back, dazed and followed this with a punch which made her stagger back even more.

Sandra attempted another lunge with her right, but the Commander just let it stab into his shoulder. He then simply forced it out with a simple push, making Sandra stagger back even more followed by a punch to the face.

He then grabbed Sandra's shoulder kneed her right in the stomach. Despite her armour, the hit literally knocked the air right out of her lungs. To add to this, he swung his arm right into Sandra's throat. Being the un-armoured part of a Helldiver, this attack caused her to temporarily stop breathing.

She only had a moment to process this before the Commander then kicked her so hard she fell on her back. Holstering his sword, the Commander slowly walked up to his daughter and then jumped. The impact of him landing on her caused the ceiling floor to give way and they both fell through into the floor below.

Sandra barely had a moment to recover before the Commander then kicked her, sending her flying. Sandra used this to her advantage however and managed to roll back onto her front. Before she could pick herself up however, the Commander kicked her in the face again, which made her fall onto her back again.

Once again she attempted to get back up, but the Commander punched her to the side, dazing her. He then punched up which did at least force her back up onto her feet, but with her vision blurred and head spinning, she could barely make out anything. He swung another punch which she did just manage to block with both her arms but the Commander was quick to respond with a punch to the stomach.

He then grabbed Sandra by the neck and smashed her into a nearby wall several times. Another head-butt followed knocking Sandra back. The Commander finally followed by a swing which knocked her right back down.

As the Commander raised his foot and brought it down to finish her off however, Sandra suddenly felt a newfound strength in her. She immediately grabbed the Commander's foot. The Commander was caught off guard by this, allowing Sandra to then push and throw him with such force that she threw him right through a wall.

The Commander grunted and groaned in pain as he hit the next wall and landed on the floor. Seemed his daughter had inherited some, if not all of his strength.

Sandra slowly picked herself up, finally feeling her strength and stamina return to her.

Both opponents charged at one another, Sandra even running through the hole in the wall she'd made. The Commander managed to get the upper hand and slammed Sandra into another nearby wall. He managed about three punches before Sandra managed to block the fourth. Using all the strength she then grabbed the Commander and threw him right across the room, causing him to crash through several consoles and lab equipment.

As Sandra ran it him again however, the Commander turned the tables again. He managed to grab a nearby discarded grenade launcher and fired it. The explosion, being almost at point blank range, sent both of them in opposite directions.

The Commander got off easy, the only significant damage being to the left side of his helmet and also losing his left optic eye.

Sandra wasn't so lucky. Her armour took the worst of it, but it was still enough to weaken her greatly. Try as she might, she couldn't' get back up. She felt too weak and too beaten.

Seeing his daughter's weakened state, the Commander picked himself back up. He drew his sword again and pressed his foot hard down on Sandra's chest, pinning her in place. He then reached down and grabbed her helmet.

There was the loud sound of creaking and cracking metal as he literally tore the helmet off, exposing Sandra's bloodied face.

"You fight well." He said. "You make an old man proud."

"You're a monster!" Sandra spat.

"Funny, you're grandmother said the exact same thing to me... before I killed her." The Commander growled. As he spoke he slowly made a cut on Sandra's left cheek with the tip of his blade.

Very slowly he raised the blade, ready to deliver the final blow.

"Farewell, dear daughter."

A sudden noise however interrupted him.

A large portion of the building was suddenly blown away as Alpha's gunship hovered into view. The Commander barely had time to react before Alaara suddenly threw a biotic warp at the ceiling causing it to fall on the Commander. Sandra managed to push her father's foot enough and move out of the way just in time.

As she looked at the wreckage the Commander was now buried under, she knew he was still alive. In fact just a few seconds later, his fist burst out.

When she looked back at the gunship however she saw Alaara reaching her hand out.

"Come on!" she yelled.

Though Sandra wanted so much to end the Commander while she had the chance, after the fight she'd just been in she knew there would have to be another time. Her father was just too powerful.

As the Commander began bursting his way out of the rubble, she ran to the dropship and Alaara pulled her in.

The dropship took off and was gone from view just as the Commander finally freed himself from the rubble. He watched the disappearing craft with a sense of satisfaction.

This was not the end. He would be seeing his daughter again soon enough.

It was inevitable.

* * *

"Don't ever do that again." Said Alaara as she hugged Sandra tightly.

"Sandra… I know this might not be what you want to hear, but we need to tell the Council about your parentage. If they find out about this and you didn't tell them, there's no knowing what they might think." Said Austin.

"I know, Shepard, and I agree with you." Sandra nodded.

"Excuse me?"

"I agree we should tell them. No more secrets. It is a bit soon considering our state, but they need to know."

* * *

The Council had been most eager to talk to Alpha when they'd returned. Sandra's news however came as a complete shock to them. Despite her fears of their reactions however, they seemed to take it well.

"And then we decided to come here and explain the truth to you. That's about it." Sandra finished.

"We've long heard rumours that the Commander had a daughter, but this finally confirms they were true." Said Tarnack.

"Troubling that we never saw this family connection before when Sandra first joined us." Said another councillor.

"You erased all records of the Commander when he betrayed you, including DNA samples. You had nothing to compare mine to." Sandra explained.

"Be that as it may, this makes her especially dangerous. She can't be allowed to remain unmonitored." Said another councillor.

"Sandra's commanding Officer should have a voice in this!" said Tarnack. "Shepard, you probably know her better than we ever will. What is your say on the matter?"

"The situation doesn't require a reaction. We just thought you should know the truth." Said Austin, almost in a defensive manner.

"And now that we know, we can't ignore the threat she represents to all of us. To allow her to remain as a Helldiver, our enemy's own flesh and blood… it's inconceivable."

"Is it?" Spartan asked rhetorically as he finally spoke, his voice causing the other councillors to fall completely silent. "Was it not from Sandra and her squad that we first learned about Hellspawn and the Commander?"

"Councillor Spartan is right. Both Sandra and her squad have proven themselves time and time again. The fact also that she herself has told us about this revelation only further proves where her true loyalty lies… with her squad, and with us." Said Tarnack supportingly.

"It was perfectly natural for you to fear our reactions, Sandra. But what matters now is that you stay true to the path you are on, and help us to put an end to your father." Said Spartan.

"I intend to do nothing else until that is accomplished, Councillors. That monster may have conceived me, but he is not my family, not truly! My teammates, my friends… they are my true family and I would gladly give my life for any of them." Said Sandra.

"I couldn't have put it better myself. Sandra is both a fine soldier, and a dear friend. I trust her with my life. We all do." Said Austin.

All of Alpha nodded in agreement, especially Alaara who held her bond mate's hand, not even caring if the Council noticed.

"There you have it then. I need no further proof of Sandra's loyalty." Said Spartan.

"Agreed, and I believe the best course of action is to leave Sandra where she is. Regardless of her origins, she has chosen to fight for us. She is a Helldiver like any other, and she is to be treated as such." Said Spartan.

"You may go now, Alpha. You have all suffered at the Commander's hands and it is best we let you heal. We wish you all a speedy recovery." Said Tarnack.

"Thank you, Council." Alpha all said, bowing their heads in respect.

"Dismissed."

* * *

"All of you, I… I don't know what to say. Thank you." Said Sandra.

"You don't need to thank us, Sandra. We're here for you, and we always will be. Especially Alaara." Said Austin.

"Still, the fact that you all stood by me, even after the fact I kept all this from you… it means a lot."

"You expected otherwise? The Council said so themselves that it was natural for you to fear what might happen. But that doesn't matter. What matters is now, and right now all I see before me is a Helldiver through and through, not the daughter of our arch enemy."

"Exactly." Said Alaara. "To be honest, the closest thing she's ever had to a father is you."

Everyone cast the Asari a rather odd look, even Sandra.

"I said that out load, didn't I?" Alaara asked with embarrassment.

"Awkward." Said Alexa.

* * *

Returning to their apartment at long last, everyone immediately went to their rooms to get some well-deserved rest. Only Sandra and Alaara remained behind.

Sandra was still rather saddened at her broken Sais, which she had in her hands.

"Damn shame. I really liked those sais." She said as she put them down onto the table with a sigh.

"Well… I think I might just have the thing to cheer you up, love." Said Alaara.

"You really think this is the time for you to get naked?" Sandra chuckled.

To her surprise however, Alaara didn't get naked. In fact, the Asari disappeared into her, and Sandra's, room for a few seconds before coming out a few seconds later with a small rectangular box.

Sandra stood up and looked at the box with interest. What was inside she wondered?

"Go on. Open it." said Alaara.

Sandra gently opened the lid. What she saw inside made her jaw drop. Inside was a _completely_ new set of Sais. They had a somewhat more advanced look compared to her old ones and appeared to be engraved in a similar fashion to Shepard's sword. In fact, the style also bore similarities to Excalibur.

"Oh my… Where did you get these?" she asked, almost lost for words.

"I was able to get Shepard to pull a few favours." Alaara smiled proudly. "They're made from a combination of Kartalrium and black carbon fibre, similar to his sword."

Sandra gently took the Sais out of the box and gave them a few experimental swings along with weighing them in her hands. Sure enough, they had almost no weight whatsoever, yet they didn't feel different to her at all. She had thought at first they might take some getting used to, yet now they felt no different than her previous ones. Only difference was that they felt lighter.

As she gently ran her hand over the smooth part of the blades, she noted how the combination of Kartalrium and Carbon fibre made the surface so much smoother than her original sais, yet at the same time the metal did not feel like it would shatter the second it touched something, it felt firm and strong. And the sharpness… well, Sandra didn't have to be an expert on blades to know what these things could cut through. She'd seen Excalibur tear right through the armour of a tank once and the blade hadn't even been scratched, worn or blunted whatsoever. If these new Sais were anything like that, she'd almost certainly be a force to be reckoned with.

Finally looking back at her lover, Sandra smiled and literally threw her arms around the Asari.

"I love you." She said, trying to hold back a tear of joy.

"I love you too." Alaara simply smiled as she hugged her bondmate back. "Now, we don't go somewhere more private so I can get naked for you and lick your pussy?"

Sandra simply sighed… but it was a very happy one, one that usually meant yes.

* * *

**_Next chapter is planned to be just as dark as we explore the origins of the Commander and the legend of an old ghost story._ **

**_See you soon._ **


	20. Chapter 20, The Krallus Colony

**Greetings, one and all! :)**

**Hope you've been having a good summer. Now, I should warn you now, this chapter is also a rather dark one. No torture this time, but it does contain some rather unsettling, and possibly scary scenes. After all, it is meant to be a horror chapter. Oh, and it does contain a sex scene at the beginning.**

**Interesting fact though. I wrote this chapter while on my second Holiday in Dartmouth and I visited the place where the Sherlock Holmes story, Hound of the Baskervilles is set, Dartmoor. So I did have a little bit of inspiration.**

**Big thanks also SpectreFanchin10 for his influence on certain scenes and also serving as beta reader and also thanks to Mastermind4892 for suggesting ideas for the sex scene.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

**YEAR 6, Inner Demons**

**2178: 6 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**9 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"The recovery for us was long, but we were soon in good enough condition to return to active duty. Little did we know however we were about to go on a mission unlike any other. We would explore the origins of our enemies, and face our greatest fears..._

* * *

**Chapter 20**

**The Krallus Colony**

Alaara gently awoke from her sleep. It was still pretty early so there was no need to get up yet. Besides, it was hard to ignore the beautiful woman in her bed. She smiled as she watched the still sleeping form of Sandra.

All the bruises and injuries she'd suffered at the hands of the Commander were gone now. Only one that lingered was the one on her cheek were the Commander had cut her. That one had faded to a scar.

Alaara didn't mind though. It was one of many to add to the collection Sandra already had. The Asari also found Sandra's scars attractive. In her opinion they made her bondmate a lot more badass. And of course there was the fact that she loved to trace every single one of them with her tongue whenever they made love.

It was Alaara was trying to decide how to wake up her bondmate that she noticed something. It appeared that she had woken to one of those very rare mornings they had where their Union was still partially active. It lasted into sleep of course, but usually by the time they woke up the "enhance attributes" they had during the love making had already returned to normal.

In this case however, they were still active.

Alaara immediately felt herself getting wet as she looked at Sandra's enlarged breasts and she licked her lips as she fondled one of her own massive tits. This combined with some still lingering desires that the Asari had, made her desire another round. Right now it was all she could think about. Here and now, nothing else mattered but satisfying this lust to taste her bondmate's pussy again and make love to her like there was no tomorrow.

And it was not like she had to worry about Sandra not being in the mood. Over the past several months and years they'd been together their almost constant love making had made the both of them absolutely comfortable in their intimacy. In fact, both their personalities were starting to rub off on each other.

Alaara seemed to be developing a much tougher personality and a will to get physical (in more ways than one) and Sandra... well, more and more she seemed to be becoming more like Alaara. Merely just looking at the Asari from afar was enough to make her crave sex with this blue beauty. She was also developing more confidence in her body. With each intimate encounter they had she became less and less afraid of being naked or having sex anywhere. Hell, the number of times they privately had sex on missions was now becoming beyond count. Seemed now as if the both of them had a hunger for each that was more and more becoming impossible to satisfy.

Rather than wake Sandra up with a gentle pussy lick, or breast suckling, Alaara decided instead to just use what came naturally.

Taking care so as not to wake her love, Alaara gently straddled the still sleeping human until her Azure was positioned just above her head. Both the scent of her still aroused azure, and a little mental nudging through the still lingering Union, Sandra gently stirred from her sleep.

Alaara gently lowered her tingling Azure over Sandra's mouth. Already she could sense the desire starting to stir within both the human and herself as well as recognizing the familiar reactions they had to each other's bodies.

Sandra's eyes finally opened fully. When she saw the sight that greeted her, she simply smiled. She didn't say anything, nor did she need to. Feeling the slight head movement of the woman beneath her, Alaara leant her own head down between's Sandra legs into the very familiar 69 position, pressing her overly enlarged chest against Sandra's stomach, the mere touch of her bond mate's rock hard abs on her sensitive nipples causing her to shiver slightly in pleasure.

Naturally, Alaara went first. She extended out her tongue and began to lick. The movements of her tongue were gentle at first and slow. Sandra took the time to enjoy the sensation for a moment, letting the pleasure wake her up fully before she finally returned the favour and slipped her own tongue into Alarra's azure.

In the years that she had been bonded to this woman, Alaara had developed a bit more stamina to Sandra's lovemaking. Despite this however, it didn't seem to help her now. It still felt incredible to her that this human was able to give her more pleasure than she'd ever been used to over the centuries.

Within just two to three minutes, Alaara climaxed in an orgasm so powerful it was bound to be heard by the rest of Alpha (despite that Alaara and Sandra had soundproofed their room due to constant noise complaints from the others.

Alaara moaned deeply between Sandra's legs, all the while still trying to keep going on her lover's own core. It was then that Sandra's extraordinary ability to elect such powerful reactions in Alaara's body arose again as she gave Alaara another single lick.

Much to Alaara's immense surprise, and pleasure, the Asari immediately began feeling the need to orgasm again. What amazed her was that it was so soon after her last one.

A second lick was all it took and Alaara immediately felt on the verge. Then a third lick followed. Within barely the span of just fifteen seconds, Alaara came again, this time even stronger and more intense than before.

Still managing to keep going and determined to make her love feel at least part of how amazing she herself had experienced, Alaara continued to lap at Sandra's pussy, this time with renewed vigour while Sandra herself still kept going on her Azure.

The Asari's newfound aggressiveness came as a surprise to Sandra and caught her completely off guard. Despite her attempt to hold on in order to try and give her lover a challenge, Sandra ultimately lost to the Asari's experienced tongue. She screamed in pleasure as her own orgasm finally came. Seemed however, she got even with Alaara as the Asari still climaxed herself once again thanks to Sandra's mouth and tongue.

Finally satisfied, they felt their union subside at last along with a sight, but arousing, tingle as their breasts returned to their normal size. Still somewhat exhausted and panting from earlier, they affectionately cuddled one another.

"Good morning." Alaara smiled.

"How do you feel?" Sandra asked, plating a light kiss on the Asari's cheek.

"Horny. But I think everyone else is awake." Alaara replied.

"Didn't bother you last night." Sandra chuckled. "Sleep well?"

"With you, love... always."

"Thanks for the little wake up call." Said Sandra as she groped one of Alaara's breasts and tweaked her nipple with her thumb, causing the Asari to shudder slightly in arousal.

"Even after all the times we've had sex, it still blows my mind of how you're able to make me cum like that. Not to mention just now you made me cum three times in the time it took me to make you cum." Said Alaara. "You sure you're not cheating?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Sandra simply smiled.

Alaara smiled back and the two kissed

"I love you." Alaara said in-between their tongues intertwining.

"I love you too." Said Sandra.

"Want to go again?" Alaara asked, a naughty smile appearing on her face.

"You bet your beautiful ass I do." Sandra replied, giving her bondmate's behind a playful slap.

* * *

It had been over 6 months since Alpha had endured torture at the hands of the Commander. By now, all their injuries had healed, both physically and mentally. Even Dash had returned to his usual chatty self once his jaw had fully healed and he had done tons of running after his legs fixed themselves.

After an extended shore leave in order to fully relax and heal they were fully ready to return to active duty.

Between them and the Arkane council was a hologram of a building. More specifically a mental asylum.

 _"Lately we've long had a suspicion that this asylum may have a connection to Hellspawn. We have no idea how however and nor do we have proof. Just yesterday however all contact was lost with it."_ Tarnack explained.

"No disrespect, Council, but why pick us for this?" Austin asked.

 _"Because you have the most experience fighting Hellspawn."_ Spartan replied. _"And anyway, this mission is simply a scouting and observation mission. We want you to go to the asylum, find out why contact has been lost, find out if there is any connection to Hellspawn, and if so to what extent, and call in reinforcements if necessary."_

"Understood, Councillors." Austin nodded.

* * *

"Hey, Troy. Have you ever seen a James Bond film?" Alaara asked.

Thanks to Dash being gentle with the Hellraiser's throttle due to poor road conditions, the ride for the rest of the squad was relaxing enough for them to enjoy the ride for once.

"Nah. I don't really like those movies. Real spies are nothing like James Bond. It's pure fantasy." Troy replied.

"Troy, I don't think Shepard's gonna like hearing you say that." Said Telrass.

"And even though it's fiction, I can't help but comparing myself to Bond."

"What exactly don't you like about James Bond?" Austin asked in surprise. "I mean, is it the gadgets, the cars, the guns?"

"Shepard..." Troy sighed.

"Troy, don't you find the concept of a gun shaped like a pen cool?" Austin asked enthusiastically.

"What good is a pen gonna do me out in the field? I'd look ridiculous." Said Troy.

"Okay, then what about a gun shaped like the Eifel tower?" Austin suggested. "You could pretend it's a souvenir from home and then get a shot in on the enemy."

"No." said Troy, trying to ignore the laughter from everyone else.

"Oh I get it. You're worried about how to handle the ladies aren't you?" Austin asked.

"What?! No I'm not! I know perfectly well how to handle the ladies." Troy objected.

"And yet you're last girl ending up becoming a titless cyborg?" said Dash.

"Dash, shut up before I break your jaw again." Said Troy crossly.

"Maybe if you had the codename 00Troy." Austin suggested.

Some of the other squad members couldn't help but snigger.

"Okay, now you're being ridiculous." Troy sighed.

"007 is one of the best things to come out of Britain. It's no surprise they made more than 20 of those movies." Said Austin.

"In case you didn't know, Troy, Shepard's quite the James Bond fan." Said Telrass.

"You don't say." Troy sighed.

* * *

Finally after 15 minutes, Alpha arrived at the gate to their destination.

"Okay, we're here." Said Dash as he parked the Hellraiser nearby and out of sight.

"Well, lights are on. Somebody's home." Said Troy as he and the others disembarked.

When they entered, they found the place completely deserted. It looked as though there had been some kind of fight though judging by dozens of overturned furniture and doors broken down.

"Alright, we'll split into two and search the area. Alaara, you're in charge of team 2." Said Austin.

"Got it." Alaara nodded.

"Nothing. Not a god damn thing." Said Austin. "Alaara, what's your status?"

"We just finished our sweep. Nothing here." Alaara replied.

As Austin began contemplating about where all the staff had gone, Leena suddenly interrupted his thought.

"Shepard."

Austin walked up to the Quarian who had just accessed the schematics of the asylum which showed much lower levels.

"I guess we know now where we're going." He said.

The elevator taking them to the lower levels made all of Alpha uneasy for some reason.

"Down into the dark." Hawk sighed. "Why do we never go anywhere nice?"

"Don't be a baby, Hawk. How bad can it..." Kraan said, but he was interrupted when the doors opened revealing a rather horrifying sight. "...be?"

There was blood and bodies all over the place. Most of them were security, but some of them were undeniably doctors and staff.

"Oh great. Now we're in a horror film." Said Dash. "Although in fairness, the author did say this chapter would be horror themed."

"Shut up, Dash." Everyone said, with annoyance.

"Hold up." Sandra suddenly said, causing everyone to stop. "Life signs."

"How many?" Austin asked.

"Hundreds... but they're acting very... odd."

There was nothing but silence as the realization came to everyone.

"Set to stun." Austin ordered.

Everyone took a deep breath as the next door opened very slowly.

The sight that greeted them was a sight that would be burned into their minds forever. The massive room was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of cells, each one with a critically insane inmate inside of them. Every single one of them was dressed in varying degrees of broken restraint, with many having only the merest remnants of it still on them. Some wore straitjackets, some had broken free of them and some didn't even have any at all. The necessities of extreme high security confinement had left them all looking bald, hunched over and skinny with their insanity-driven strength that compensated for their lack of bulk.

Some of them were walking around in circles in their cells, some were literally hanging off the ceiling, some were trying to reach out of the bars at Alpha, some were cowering in corners and some were kneeling down as if in prayer.

The entire block was filled with the constant sounds of screams, howls and growls of madness. This sickness of the mind was not a pleasant sight.

"Oh god." Dash said in shock.

"Yeah, this lot actually make you look sane." Said Kraan.

After some time continuing through the cell block, at the end of the room they spotted something. It was a drawing of some kind of demonic figure on the wall. Surprisingly, it resembled similar drawings that all the lunatics had made in their cells as well.

"What do you make of this?" Austin asked.

"It's the same as what all the inmates have in their cells." Said Sandra. "You don't really think it's..."

"I can't imagine how. She's an Arkadian legend." Said Alaara.

"Sorry, who are we talking about?" Dash asked in confusion.

"That drawing. It looks a lot like Shagowroth." Said Sandra.

"Who the hell is Shagowroth?"

"Have you not heard the story?"

"Can't say I have."

"Unbelievable."

"Well..."

"Alright, but promise you're not gonna make a big deal about it. It's an old ghost story."

"Please. I don't even believe in ghosts."

"DASH, THERE'S A GHOST BEHIND YOU!" Troy yelled in alarm.

Dash immediately screamed and whirled around with both his pistols raised. It was as he noticed there was nothing there and heard the chuckling from everyone else however that he realized it had just been a joke.

"Hey! That wasn't funny." He said crossly.

* * *

The Curse of Shagowroth

Long ago there lived a human woman on a far off colony who had a relationship with an alien. The relationship alone was greatly frowned upon by the inhabitants of the colony, and it soon got worse when they had a child.

Disgusted by this half breed, the colonists took action. They burst into the woman's home in the dead of night, slaughtered her husband and child and beat her savagely. To finish they cut off both her legs, and burned her alive.

Within days of this all happening children began to disappear one by one. The colonists eventually went looking for them, but found nothing. When they returned home to the colony however they found them all. Only they were all dead, eyes gouged out, jaws torn off, teeth broken out by force, fingers and toes cut off, and all completely torn open and hanging from their homes by nothing but the innards of their own stomachs.

On the floor there was a message in the children's blood. It said "Will never forget. Will never forgive."

Then the colonists saw something. There was a figure slowly crawling out of the fog. At first it appeared to be a young girl. But when the colonists ran up to help her, they were frozen with fear. What they saw was no child.

It was a woman clad in black rags. She looked so thin and her skin so pale that she looked almost as though she was on the verge of death. Her hands were not hands, but claws stained with blood, and it looked fresh. Her blood shot eyes constantly bled black and red blood, her jaw practically hung from her face like it had been dislocated, her teeth were like fangs and they too were stained with still fresh blood. As she dragged herself along the floor the colonists also noticed she had no legs. It was if she had an upper body, but after it all disappeared into her rags, her body just seemed to end.

Slowly the woman raised her head to look at them. To their horror, the colonists saw the face of the woman they had killed staring right back at them. But she was no human anymore. This was a demon.

And then she let out a scream, a scream said to be so loud, and so terrifying that it could've woken the dead... and it did.

The colonists all became surrounded as the dead children cut themselves down from where they'd been hanging and advanced towards the colonists as the colony itself burst into flame.

Only one got away. One young man who had not been part of the killing that started all this. He got away, and the demon did not pursue him. Eventually he was picked up by a tea of Helldivers and relayed this same tale to them.

When the Helldivers went back to investigate they claimed to have found the all the colonists alright, but they had suffered the same fight as their children. They had been strung up from their homes with the innards of their own torn open stomachs with their eyes gouged out, fingers and toes cut off, and teeth and jaw missing.

Unlike their children however, they were still alive. This was clearly torture they had endured and were being left to suffer.

What happened afterwards however is a complete mystery. The Helldivers returned with the boy alive, but they had no recollection whatsoever about what happened after they found the bodies.

Attempts were made for years after to investigate the colony again, but they never returned. There was one party that had one survivor, but he didn't last long before eventually dying. Before he did however, he gave a detailed description of a demonic figure he'd seen. The description matched that of the demon from the original story.

The true cause is unknown, but some believe that if the story of the curse is true, it's believed that the demon wishes for the colony to forever remain undisturbed so that bodies of those who wronged her would forever remained undisturbed so that they would forever suffer.

Though the Arkanes are not believers in the supernatural, they continue to use this tale as a ghost story to warn both their own people and others against discrimination. And it was they who gave both this tale and the demon in it a name:

The Scream of Death, or as the phrase is known in the Arkane language... Shagowroth.

* * *

"Creepy, I must admit." said Dash, unable to hold back a slight shiver.

"So you think this is her?" Alaara asked.

"I don't **think** it's her. I know it is." Austin replied. "It's too much like Shagowroth to be coincidence."

"Not only that. Look at the way this all arranged. It looks like... they were worshiping her." Said Austin, observing how there were candles and symbols laid out near to the drawing of Shagowroth.

"That doesn't make sense. It's just a ghost story to frighten racists." Said Leena.

"They're insane. It's to be expected." Said Ventra.

"No. There's something more to this." Said Austin. "They all have drawings of her carved into their cells. All of them. Coincidence? I doubt it."

Suddenly a voice could be heard all over the cell block. It appeared to be coming out of the loud speakers.

"Smart... very smart. Yes..."

"Who said that?!" Austin said as everyone raised their guns defensively.

"They don't know who we are..."

Another voice joined as well. It sounded almost the same as the other one, just with a lower pitch.

"They've never seen us before." the deeper one said.

"Why listen to me?"

"Because they must."

"We talk, they listen?"

"Yes, that's how this works."

"They need to hear this."

"Where's that coming from?" Austin asked.

"Control room." Sandra replied, scanning the area.

* * *

When Alpha got up to the control room, it appeared to be deserted. Only person that was in there was the body of a security guard.

"Dead. Neck broken." Said Austin as he respectively closed the dead guard's eyes. "Who could've done this?"

"BOO!"

Suddenly a figure leapt out of the shadow and latched onto Austin's back. The Helldiver immediately reacted and tried to throw the man off. Dash ran up to try and help, causing the inmate to try and kick him away. The kick though was unsuccessful and simply bounced off of Dash's helmet, causing the inmate to lose his grip on Austin and fall onto his back.

Now able to get a proper look at their attacker, Alpha could see that he was a lunatic inmate like the others. He too was in a straitjacket which was still holding together, despite that he'd clearly tried to break loose. His feet were bloodied and he did appear to have a black eye.

"Not inmates. Not security guards. Nononononononoono. Helldivers? Yes! People we want to see. People we want to talk to. Mustn't hurt them. Mustn't attack."

His voice kept going back and forth between normal and the much deeper raspy voice. It seemed both had come from him. He'd even turn his head in different direction when doing each voice.

It certainly seemed like he was suffering from a split personality disorder. He looked like he'd had an overdose of coffee due to how hyperactive he appeared to be. He was panting heavily, his eyes were wide open and he was sweating all over. Not to mention his mad grin and partial drooling.

"Who the hell are you?" Austin asked.

" **Us?** Who are we? **Hmmm, what is our name?** Are we friend? **Are we foe?** Keep guessing. **Part of the fun.** Not want game to end... **Riddles.** Questions. **Must think of answer."** the inmate replied, still continuing his split personality talk.

"You better start making sense or I'm just gonna knock you and your… friend, out." Austin threatened as he picked the man up by the scruff of the neck and forced him against the wall.

"One of you! **Yes.** Used to be one of you. **Wore armour.** Metal plates. **Shiny!** " the inmate said.

" **You** were a Helldiver?" Dash asked, not believing the inmate's words for a minute.

"Hell. Not go there! Not be punished! Not go back to him."

"Him? You mean the Commander?" Austin asked.

" **Figure in flames!** Burning! **Trying to make us scared!** Put worms in our head! They wiggle. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. **Not let will break!** "

"I've had enough of this." Austin said in annoyance

Using the butt of his pistol, he hit the inmate hard enough on the head to knock him out. Rather to everyone's surprise however, the inmate stayed awake and rubbed the back of his head.

"That... hurt." He said.

Austin was a bit surprised that hadn't worked.

"Either talk sense, or don't talk at all." Said Austin.

"Why? Did we not make sense before? Nasty Helldiver hurt us! They were just scared. That's no fucking excuse! They think we're insane. No we're fucking not! Yes, you're quite right. Yet we're in an asylum and wearing a straitjacket. Killed that guard with nothing but our feet. Wrong place at the wrong time. So what the fuck are we doing here?! I really don't know, we don't even usually swear. But that's how fucking annoyed we are!"

"Are you playing with us?!" Austin asked forcefully, raising his gun. "Who are you?"

"We had a name, didn't we? **Yes we did.** Don't tell me we've forgotten. **We never forget.** They want to know. **None of their fucking business!** No need to be so rude. **Who gives a fuck?!** Samuel Dawkins. **Lieutenant of Beta Squad.** Or was it Delta squad?"

"Point is though, you were a Helldiver?" Sandra asked.

"Was. Not one anymore. Armour taken from us. Thrown in this shithole!"

"What happened?" Austin asked.

"He happened. Got captured by Hellspawn. Stripped of armour. Had to endure all kinds of torture at his hands. We'll fucking kill him for that someday!"

"We know what that's like." Said Sandra sympathetically.

"But got something out of it. Learned things. Learned about him.

"What did you learn?" Alaara asked.

" **Everything.** Who he is. **Where he came from.** " Samuel replied. "Krallus, wasn't it? Krallus Colony."

"Please tell me you're joking." Austin said in surprise

"No jokes. **No tricks."**

"What's wrong with that?" Dash asked.

"The Krallus Colony is said to be the colony where the Curse of Shagowroth originated from." Sandra explained. "Years ago a Helldiver team went there to answer a supposed distress call. They only found one survivor, a boy who..."

Everyone cast each other looks as the realization came to them.

This was interrupted however when they started to hear a faint laughter that slowly got louder. It was coming from Samuel.

"What's so funny?" Leena asked.

" **Goddess calls to us.** They must never find the weapon hidden there."

"What weapon?" Austin asked cautiously.

"Kill. Stop you. For the Shagowroth!"

Samuel immediately lunged at Austin again. Once again, he went right for the Helldiver's neck. The others tried to help, but Samuel's strength was driven by his madness and the fact that he was a former Helldiver who retained his original strength.

"Samuel, stop!" Austin choked.

Managing to grab hold of Samuel's legs, he managed to force them off his neck and kicked Samuel off him, causing the inmate to land against a nearby console. Samuel then tackled Austin right through the window overlooking the cell block.

"SHEPARD!"

Austin hit the ground first, cushioning the fall for Samuel who still continued to try and strangle him.

"Get... off me!"

Austin kicked hard and knocked Samuel right off him. The inmate however simply rolled back onto his feet.

" **Kettle.** In the kettle! **Two mice.** Squeaky! Squeaky!"

In desperation Dash ran up to the nearby console and started randomly pushing buttons in hopes to somehow help Austin.

"Gotta have some kind of contingency plan for this. Oh wait, what does this button do?"

It was at this moment Dash realized… he fucked up. Every single other cell opened and their occupants slowly stepped out, some laughing like crazy, some growling, and some with a literally insane look on their faces. Now Austin was facing an entire small army of these lunatics.

"Dash, you bastard!" Austin swore.

"Errrr… oops?"

The rest of Alpha quickly jumped down to join their leader. This did at least make Austin feel less nervous about facing all these insane lunatics.

"Don't worry, Shep. We've got your back." Said Alaara.

"Don't kill them. Knock them out only." Said Austin.

"Finally, some excitement." Kraan grinned.

The inmates all charged, separating Alpha.

While sot of Alpha were broken apart and fighting several inmates each on their own, Alaara was able to stay back to back with Sandra.

"You as turned on as I am right now?"she asked, smashing another inmate into the floor.

"Oh, hell yes."Sandra replied.

"That's my girl." Said Alaara, smiling under helmet.

"You wanna have sex in the middle of a fight with crazy inmates?!" Sandra asked in confusion, punching another inmate in the face and countering the punch of a second.

"No! I wanna make love." Alaara replied.

"You're cute when you talk dirty to me." Said Sandra, tossing another inmate to Alaara who then used her biotics to punch him to the ground, knocking him out cold.

Austin meanwhile was engaged 4 to 1, but he quickly evened it down. With an almost lightning like speed he took down the first one to his right, then the one to his left and then the third in front of him in just a few seconds.

The fourth one however had a knife. Austin only just managed to duck under a swipe from the inmate who then followed this with a lunge. Austin however moved his head to the side, causing the knife to go right past him.

Reacting quickly to this, Austin then pinned the inmate's arm against his shoulder and flung the inmate right into the air before then smashing him down into the floor.

Dash meanwhile charged an inmate and tackled him to the floor and hitting his head hard on the floor in the process.

Ventra who had some non lethal arrow tips in his arsenal was putting them to good use. No particular arrow he shot at one the nearby cell doors. With the arrow grappled onto the door Ventra wrenched it right off and threw it at several inmates. Most threw themselves out of the way, but a fair few inmates were hit by the cell door.

Similar to Austin, Leena was also outnumbered 4 to 1, but she held her ground. Due to all the inmates attacking her using knives, the Quarian was using her tomahawk and own knife to counter each attack. Sparks flew as metal clashed against metal from all sides.

Elbowing an inmate from behind, Leena countered a thrust from another inmate and locked his arm against hers with her blade. Another inmate attempted another swipe, but Leena kicked him right in the knee. It was any wonder the force of the kick from her large legs didn't break the inmate's leg. She then literally broke the arm of the inmate she'd had pinned earlier, causing him to fall to the floor clutching his broken arm.

Another inmate swung, but Leena blocked that one too with her forearm. She then immediately grabbed the inmate's arm and used it to block the attack from another inmate. Before the inmate had time to attack again, Leena immediately kicked him. She then forced the knife of inmate she'd been holding earlier right into his leg, causing him to stagger back clutching his leg.

Two more attempted to attack, but Leena punched them hard in the face, knocking them down. She then turned back to the inmate earlier who'd been stabbed in the leg with his knife. She swung a wide punch right at the inmate's face so hard that it knocked his head right into the floor.

An inmate tried to charge Kraan, but the Krogan managed to grab him and threw him to the floor. He managed several punches before another inmate suddenly struck with his knife, sparks flying as the blade made contact with Kraan's helmet. The Krogan abandoned his earlier beating and focused his attention on the new inmate who managed to cut his helmet again. One the third attempt, Kraan managed to grab the inmate's arm. He then swung his leg into both the inmate's, tripping him up. As the human hit the floor, Kraan gave the inmate's arm a violent twist. There was a loud snap and the inmate screamed as his arm broke.

As Austin countered the attack from another inmate and threw him over his head, he failed to react in time to Samuel suddenly running up to him and charging him with such force that it actually managed to knock the Helldiver back enough that second inmate then managed to pull him down onto his back.

Austin tried to get back up, but the constant attacks from Samuel and second inmate forced him to have to keep blocking their knives with the ones on his forearms. When Samuel attacked again Austin managed this time to block his attack with one hand and return a punch with the other, but he failed to react fast enough to block a kick from the second inmate which knocked him back down.

Samuel was quick to seize his chance and brought with knife right down with enough precision that it got in-between the plates of armour and cut right through Austin's suit mesh, stabbing right in the left shoulder, causing the Helldiver to emit a painful groan through gritted teeth.

As the second inmate went in for a strike of his own, Austin managed to land a kick not he inmate's legs, tripping him up. With that one dealt with, Austin was able to turn his attention to Samuel. He swung his right leg, kicking Samuel right in the face, causing him to lose grip of his knife which was still embedded in the Helldiver's shoulder.

Finally getting back onto his feet, Austin tripped the second inmate up again, causing his face to hit the floor. As the Helldiver stood up, he pulled the knife out of his shoulder. He then grabbed Samuel bay the neck and forced him against the wall. He then used the knife to stab Samuel in the same place, pinning the inmate in place.

Austin was interrupted however by a knock on his back. He turned to find the second inmate from earlier hadn't stayed down. The Helldiver however didn't give the second inmate time to attack again however. He delivered a swift punch to the inmate's face, grabbed him by the hair and then threw him into the floor again. To ensure this time the inmate stayed down though, Austin then grabbed the inmate again and this time threw him into a nearby wall with such force that it actually caused a dent.

Austin finally turned his attention back to Samuel was trying in vain to unpin himself from the wall, but it was little use. For a moment, the two stared at each other, not saying a word. Eventually though, the long silence was broken as Austin punched Samuel hard enough in the face that he knocked him out.

With that, the prison block finally fell silent. The last of the inmates had been dealt with. Unconscious body upon unconscious body littered the floor.

"Are you alright?" said Leena.

"I'm fine. Just a flesh wound." Austin groaned as he applied medi gel to his wound.

Alaara and Sandra meanwhile had chosen to celebrate this victory with a kiss, which was causing a look of both confusion and embarrassment from everyone.

"You two…" Austin sighed.

"Like the sight of a woman and an Asari kissing doesn't turn you on." Said Alaara, finally breaking the kiss.

"Still…"

"Next time we'll wait until the mission itself is over. Promise." Said Sandra.

"Aw. Look at these two. How come I never get any of that from anyone?" Dash asked.

"Buy us a drink first." Said Troy.

"You're such hard work."

"But worth it."

* * *

"This is for your own good, Samuel. And don't think you'll escape this time." Said Austin as he slammed the cell shut and locked it. "If the Commander has a weapon hidden in that colony, we're gonna find it, and destroy it."

With the next destination now known, and with the situation know dealt with, Alpha walked away. They'd already informed the Council of what had happened and a cleanup crew was already en route, along with a security team to re-establish control.

" **THEY CAN'T FIGHT THE SCREAM OF DEATH!** SHE'LL FIND THEM! **MAKE THEM SUFFER!** " Samuel yelled, forcing himself right up close to the bars as he watched Alpha leave.

* * *

"I never understood him back when I worked for him. How can one person have so much hate for every species in the galaxy except for humans?" Troy questioned.

"Maybe it's one of the universes greatest mysteries," Shepard guessed.

"Everyone and everything has a past. Especially this man."

"Maybe. Maybe not," said Alaara. "But sometimes, maybe it's best we don't know some of the details."

"All these years, I never knew who he was before he turned into the monster we're fighting today." Troy said.

"Are you sure of that?" Sandra asked groggily as she tried to hold back her travel sickness yet again due to the turbulence from the gunship.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying we shouldn't underestimate him."

The gunship hovered down low enough and Alpha all jumped out.

" _Be careful down there, Alpha."_ Alex said as the gunship pulled away and returned to operational height.

Due to a surprisingly large build up of both fog and mist in the area, they'd been unable to land directly at the colony. They'd been forced instead to land on the outskirts where it was clear enough. They'd walk the rest of the way. Normally they'd use the Hellraiser, but once again the fog and mist made it too risky. Not to mention also it was somehow disrupting their instruments too.

15 minutes passed without any incident. However something about the general atmosphere felt a little different. None of Alpha could explain it, but they all felt a little uneasy. Austin also noticed Dash seemed to be rubbing his helmet a little.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a bit of headache." Dash replied.

"You too, huh?" Ventra asked.

"Do you need a drink?" Austin asked.

"We should be alright, Shep." Alaara replied.

"If you say so."

Alpha continued on for another 5 minutes before Dash then asked something.

"I don't want to sound like a coward, but is anyone else feeling like they want to turn back?" he asked.

There was a painfully long moment of silence before someone finally replied.

"Won't lie, Dash, I'm actually feeling that as well." Kraan admitted.

"Something about this place doesn't fell right." Said Hawk.

"We can't leave yet. Not until we've found this weapon. Keep going." Said Troy.

After 10 more minutes, thing didn't improve at all. If anything they got worse. All of Alpha's headaches were worse than before to the point where it felt like their skulls were being crushed. Worse still, the feeling they'd had before to turn back was stronger too. Their will too ultimately to prioritize their mission though overrode that constantly nagging desire.

It was as they reached ¾ part of their walk however that things went from bad to worse.

"Alpha... losing your signal..."

After that, everything went static.

"Telrass... Telrass! Oh for fuck's sake. Not again!" Austin swore."Sandra?"

"I'm still trying." Said Sandra.

Despite her best efforts though, the radio continued remaining static.

When Sandra attempted to make another adjustment however, something suddenly came through. But it wasn't Telrass' voice.

" _Turn back."_

It was very quick and very brief, as though it had been taken out of context from another radio channel. But it was understandable.

"Is it just me, or did that sound like "turn back?" Dash asked, sounding a little nervous.

More then followed.

" _Make you..."_

" _Leave here..."_

Alpha cast concerned looks at one another. Their comm channels weren't known to do this.

" _Get out!"_

" _Get you!"_

" _Every... person leave."_

" _Too late."_

" _Make you... kill."_

After that, the channel went completely dead.

"Damn it! It's no good, sir. I've lost all contact." Sandra sighed.

"What do you think happened to 'em?" Hawk asked.

"Nothing's "happened to 'em", Dash. Probably some interference. Right, Shepard?" said Kraan.

"If Telrass can re-establish comms, she will. In the meantime, we've got a weapon to find." Said Austin.

"What's the matter?" Alaara asked worriedly, noticing how Sandra seemed in pain.

"This headache's somehow gotten worse. Really hurts now." Sandra replied.

"Mine too." Austin groaned.

Dash suddenly whirled round with one of his pistols raised. He looked around for a minute, but there was nothing there. Just more mist and fog.

"Stop. Stop a minute." He said. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Ventra. As he fell silent however, he and Alpha suddenly heard it too. "What the... sounds almost like a church bell constantly ringing."

It did indeed sound like how Ventra had just described. It was a rather haunting sound which only added to the already unsettling atmosphere.

"My head... I feel so dizzy." Hawk groaned.

"Shepard, maybe we should stop for a bit. There's something not right here." Said Troy, trying to fight his own headache.

"I think you may be right." Said Austin.

Leena suddenly looked up in alarm, her hand reaching for her shotgun.

"What is it?"

"Thought I just heard a laugh of some kind." Leena said tensely.

"We're the only ones here." Said Kraan.

"I don't like this place. Something about it feels evil." Said Dash.

"No kidding." Said Hawk.

* * *

Several minutes that almost felt like hours passed, and finally Alpha saw it.

Out of the fog and mist they saw the unmistakable shape of buildings. Every single one was damaged in wrecked in some fashion due to both un-mended storm damage and old age. Debris, broken off pieces and a combination of dust, sand and cobwebs covered the entire colony. It really was like exploring a ghost town.

Unlike usual ghost towns that simply felt empty, this ghost town felt different. It felt like something bad had happened here.

It was as Alpha explored further however they soon came across a way more horrifying sight. Dozens upon dozens of dead skeletons from various different species littered the entire colony.

Some were strung up from the wreckage of buildings, some littered the streets, some had their skulls impaled on spikes and their bones laid out almost like a warning, some looked as they'd died from fire, some looked as though they'd bled out due to dried up blood stains on the ground, some had bones smashed indicating torture and some were simply laid out next to each as they they'd been placed there after death in order to be buried only for a burial to never take place.

"Wow. This is creepy as shit." Said Dash, clearly shuddering slightly from the sight.

Austin also was rather unnerved by this, but he didn't show it. Trying to put aside the fact that many years ago this had been the sight of both a mass slaughter, torture and other horrible acts of suffering and death, he ordered Alpha to spread out and search the colony for any sign that something had been hid here.

Alpha did their best to be respectful to the environment and the dead bodies, but they were ultimately forced to move some of them in order to search certain areas.

The ones that really stood out were the ones that did appear to be strung up from the buildings. It was bad enough to think that someone had actually done that to them, but what made it worse was the skeletons were undeniably the skeletons of children. It made Alaara almost want to cry.

There was one particular building that caught Austin's eye. It seemed a little bit more remote than the others, but still shared the same old and worn down look. It looked also like it had been on fire at some point due to scorch marks and black spots here and there, along with a ceiling that definitely looked like it fallen apart due to damage.

When Austin tried to open the door however, it didn't budge.

"Why is this one locked?" he said. He tried again but it still didn't open. "How can it be locked?! This place has been abandoned for decades."

Right as he raised his rifle to smash the door in however he was stepped by something that made all of Alpha jump. Austin even jumped back almost in fright and nearly fell over as he heard the unmistakable sound of two gentle knocks from inside the building.

"FUCK!"

"It fucking knocked!" said Dash in alarm.

"There's no way anyone could be in there! It's impossible." Said Troy, trying to hide how nervous he was feeling.

Austin raised his rifle. Much as he tried to deny it, his hands were shaking inside his suit.

"Whoever did that, come out! Now!" he ordered.

There was no response.

"Last chance! Come out, or we'll break the door down!"

Still nothing.

With that, Austin swung his rifle and smashed the door open.

Nothing whatsoever. The only thing there was inside the building was more remains.

The ceiling of the building had indeed fallen apart due to fire damage. One particular large beam had fallen away and by the looks of things had fallen onto one of the skeletons.

"Nothing. Just bodies." Said Austin, sighing slightly with relief.

Both he and Sandra went up to the two bodies and examined them more closely. There was something about these two skeletons that seemed different. Austin particularly noted the fact that the one that appeared to simply be lying against the wall had no head and as far as he could tell, it was nowhere to be seen.

"This one's missing its head." he observed.

As Sandra began examine the other corpse she immediately noticed something that was both odd and at the same time a little frightening.

"Shepard, look at this." She said.

Austin walked up to Sandra and knelt beside her. Sure enough, he saw it too.

"That's... This corpse must be just as old as the others, but yet it looks as if it's still... decomposing." Austin said in confusion.

Parts of flesh still clung to the bones of the corpse. It had still been definitely dead for years, but even so...

Beside the corpse also were what looked like scratch marks on the floor. When Sandra shone her light near the marks she also noted how close they were to the corpse's hands.

"These marks..." she said. "Fingernails. This woman died struggling. By the looks of the area around her, my guess is she was set on fire."

"Horrible way to die." Austin sighed.

"Especially while you're pinned in place by a beam. Look at the legs." Said Sandra. Pointing to the corpse's legs. "Broken right where the beam is. Looks like it fell on her and broke her legs."

A sudden distant, but very clear, noise suddenly startled them, causing them all to jump slightly again.

"Fucking hell! That was like a...moan or something!" said Dash.

"What the hell is going on?!" said Hawk, reaching cautiously for his sniper rifle.

It was everyone else joined him they also noticed something horrible.

"Where'd all the skeletons go?"

"Look sharp, people." Said Austin drawing his weapon, causing everyone to do the same thing.

Everyone kept themselves tensed, ready to act. All around they could hear running footsteps, but they couldn't see anyone.

"Errrr, guys? I feel like there's someone behind me." Said Dash nervously.

"Dash this isn't the time to be joking." Said Austin.

"No, I'm being serious, Shepard. I feel like they're actually is someone behind me." Said Dash.

"Who's touching my shoulder?" Kraan asked.

This caused everyone to freeze. Kraan never played along with Dash's jokes. And it was now they felt it too. The feeling that people got when a person was behind them.

Alpha very slowly turned their heads to look behind.

They caught the very briefest look at something swipe at their helmets... but then everything black...

* * *

Austin slowly opened his eyes. He groaned as he picked himself back up. His head hurt from the knock earlier. Whatever had hit him and the others had certainly hit them hard.

He looked around to find himself in exact same spot where he had been earlier. The corpses were still all gone and everything else was the same. What was missing however was everyone else. The rest of Alpha was nowhere to be seen.

Austin looked around, trying to hide his panic. It was as he looked around he suddenly noticed the area around him. He was literally kneeling in a pool of blood. The entire ground around him was stained with all kinds of different blood.

Austin's worry grew and his heart rate sped up. His mind filled with questions. Was this Alpha's blood? Where they still alive? How bad where they wounded? What had happened? Why was he unscathed?

He noticed that there was a trail heading away from the pool. Cautiously, Austin got back onto his feet and slowly followed the blood. It continued on for a few minutes before he then started seeing what he recognized immediately as parts of Helldiver armour

Austin's worry only increased with this sight. The pieces undeniably looked like they'd ripped off by force. Some were stained with blood as well.

Austin quickened his pace and continued following the blood trail.

More and more pieces appeared in Austin's view... and then the most horrifying sight of all greeted his eyes. A sight that would forever haunt him for the rest of his life.

All of Alpha was laid out in a pile, each one with such vicious injuries that they were literally torn open. Austin didn't need to be a medical expert to know that they were already dead. Only two were exceptions.

Sandra was laid against a rock, covered in blood and clearly on the verge of death. In her arms was Dash, who worst of all had been quite literally torn in two. His upper body was torn apart from his lower which was a metre or two away from him. The only thing still connecting the two was his intestines.

"Just hold on." Sandra whimpered. "We survived."

Dash took his last breath and went limp in Sandra's arms.

Sandra slowly looked up, the mere movement clearly causing her pain.

Austin almost felt sick at the sight. Sandra's face had so much skin missing it was any wonder how she was still alive. Her right eye had been gouged out and her entire left cheek was torn open.

"Shepard?" she croaked, coughing blood slightly.

"What... what happened?" Austin managed to say.

The sheer shock of this was almost overwhelming. So much so that he fell to his knees.

"Without you... we had no chance." Sandra replied, tears running from her remaining eye. "My love... is dead because you left us."

"Sandra, I didn't..."

"You let us die!" Sandra yelled, coughing up more blood after speaking.

With that, it ended up being her final words before the life left her and her head fell.

Austin could only look at the dead bodies, unimaginable amounts of survivor's guilt, sadness, depression and hopelessness ran through him. It made him almost want to scream in sorrow.

Why had he been spared? Why him, and not them? He would've given his one life it meant that the eight of them would've lived.

It was as he took several breaths to calm himself down and regain his composure however he suddenly noticed something.

The lower part of Dash that had been torn off looked like it was moving. At first Austin thought it was just his eyes playing tricks on him. But he soon saw it wasn't. The lower half actually was moving.

The intestines that were still connecting the two halves had tightened and were slowly pulling the two back together. Austin then saw more movement out of the corner of his eyes. He turned to see to his horror the rest of Alpha slowly rising as though they'd been possessed by some evil spirit.

As they all rose around Austin, who also got back up so he was prepared for an unexpected attack, which he had a feeling was coming.

"You let us die." They all said, as if in sync with one another.

Only Dash was an exception. He seemed to be almost chanting a series of numbers, almost like he was chanting some strange spell.

"204863." He said emotionlessly.

"YOU LET US DIE!"

All of them attacked. Austin quickly reacted and managed to duck under the attack and retreated enough that Alpha no longer surrounded him. However they continued limping towards him, still continuing to yell "YOU LET US DIE!"

"Guys, please..." he said desperately.

But Alpha didn't listen. They continued advancing, they continued chanting "YOU LET US DIE!" and they continued trying to attack.

If there was a Hell, Austin felt like he was in it.

* * *

Troy groaned as he picked himself up, rubbing the back of his head. He still felt a little dazed, but he could see clearly enough.

What the hell had hit him earlier? Where were the others? His questions however were suddenly interrupted when he heard a female voice call his name. He whirled round.

To his shock, out of the mist emerged a figure, a figure that he recognized immediately. However he didn't believe what he saw. How could she possibly be here? What's more... how as she human again?

"Sonya?"

Sonya's human appearance bore no resemblance whatsoever to her cyborg body. She was an astonishingly beautiful woman. Most noticeable of all was that she was African, so her skin black skinned. She had black hair tied in a pony tail and green eyes. Despite being African she spoke with only a very faint African accent.

She was wearing a tank top that exposed her arms and midsection, dark jeans and a short sleeve black jacket.

She had a black tattoo pattern that ran all the way up her right arm all the way to the start of her neck where it stopped. There was also a tattoo of an eye around her belly button.

From what Troy remembered, while she had indeed been a highly skilled hacker, at the same time she'd been a street thug in her teenage years which was where the tattoos came from

"Troy? Why did you leave?" she asked.

This question caused Troy to fall silent. He didn't have an answer for that. That question immediately brought to the surface the guilt he felt at what had happened to Sonya. That him leaving Hellspawn had been what had led to her becoming a cyborg.

"Why did you leave me, Troy?" she asked again.

"Sonya, I..."

"Do you have any idea... what I've become?!"

To Troy's horror, Sonya's skin began to decay at an alarming rate. As it rotted, it began to fall away, slowly revealing what lay underneath... none other than Sonya's cyborg form. As the face of Troy's former girlfriend rotted away, the expressionless mask of Trojan emerged.

Troy only had a moment to process this before Trojan then lunged at him, her cold metal hands closing around his throat. At the same time, Trojan kept replaying the same recording over and over again.

"Why did you leave? Why did you leave? Why did you leave?"

* * *

Sandra's eyes opened. She immediately took note of the throbbing at the back of her head and groaned as she picked herself up. She immediately noticed the absence of the others. Her heart rate increased as she became worried for where Alaara was, and what had happened to her.

"Alaara?" she called nervously.

"Alaara can't hear you right now." Said a terrifyingly familiar voice.

Sandra immediately whirled round.

There stood the Commander, his bloodstained sword in one hand... and Alaara's severed head in the other.

"No... NO!"

The Commander carelessly threw the head at Sandra's feet and she watched it roll, the shock freezing her in place.

Her sorrow and sadness was quickly replaced with anger and rage and Sandra immediately drew her Sais and charged.

Both blades clashed violently against each other, sparks flying with each of Sandra's strikes being fuelled by her anger. The Commander managed to counter each of her attacks, but he was slowly starting to struggle to keep up.

A sudden strike from both sides caused the two opponents to lose grip of their weapons. The Commander made the first made and grabbed Sandra by the throat, hoisting her up with ease. Sandra however grabbed onto the Commander's arm and managed to swing her leg right into the Commander's helmet, knocking him enough that it disoriented him and caused him to lose his grip and drop Sandra.

Seizing her chance, Sandra ran right up to the Commander and jumped into a punch so hard that it actually smashed the Commander's helmet right off.

The Commander staggered back dazed, his hands covering his face as his helmet hit the ground. Sandra was about to attack again when the commander turned back to face her.

She froze in shock as instead of the Commander's burnt and disfigured face, there was none other than her own face staring right back at her with eyes as black as the void itself.

"No! NO!"

The figure took advantage of Sandra's shock and then grabbed her by the neck with both hands, tripping her up in the process.

"YOU CAN NEVER ESCAPE ME! I AM YOUR FUTURE! I AM YOUR DESTINY!" the figure said in Sandra's own voice sounding more like the Commander's own demonic like voice.

Sandra struggled against the figure's grip but she felt as though all her strength had left her. Her love was dead and she was facing her terrible future.

As she once again looked at the figure, to her horror she noticed its face, her face, was on fire. The figure didn't seem to be affected by this and showed no sign of pain whatsoever. Sandra watched as her face slowly burnt away until it looked exactly like her father's, except with more of her features.

Sandra had never felt so terrified and helpless in all her life.

* * *

Alaara expected to find Sandra by her side as she woke up. It was as she became aware of her surroundings however that she suddenly realized that she wasn't at home in bed. Last thing she remembered was something taking a swipe at them.

"Sandra?" she called.

No immediate reply.

Alaara was about to start looking when she suddenly heard something. It sounded like a slight groan.

Alaara's head cautiously turned in the direction.

"Hello?"

"Alaara!"

Alaara recognized the voice immediately. She'd know the voice of her bondmate anywhere. There was something about it though that sounded different. It sounded dry hoarse, as though it was being spoken by someone who hadn't eat, drank or slept for years.

Alaara quickened her step and ran in the direction of the voice.

Within second she found a familiar body lying on the floor.

"Sandra!"

Alaara ran up to Sandra and gently picked her up. When she saw the human's face it made her want to cry. Sandra was so pale there was barely any colour on her face whatsoever. All the muscle had melted from her body and her hair looked like it hadn't been cut for years.

When she saw Alaara, her eyes opened wide as though she hadn't seen her love forever.

"I waited..." she said weakly, as though she was clinging onto what life she had left. "I waited for you!"

Alaara was then forced to watch in horror as Sandra started to age a rapid rate. Her skin wrinkled, her eyes went white with blindness, her hair went white and eventually her skin began to decay and rot as she coughed one last time and died during the aging.

Alaara immediately burst into tears. Words couldn't possibly describe how she felt right now. This was hardly the first time she's had a bondmate die, but to see it happen like that so quickly and so unexpected... it was just horrible. Not to mention that she considered Sandra the bondmate that she had loved more than any other, and not just because she was the best sex she'd ever had.

She let out a scream of despair and sorrow as tears streaked down her face from inside her helmet.

Suddenly Alaara felt something grab at her. She looked down to find none other than the dead body of Sandra actually moving. With unimaginable strength she literally tore all of Alaara's armour right off, leaving her in just her suit mesh, which the zombie figure of Sandra was quick to also tear off.

The shear shock of this caused the Alaara to fall on her back. She rolled onto her front to try and get back up but the dead Sandra pinned her in place by the neck

"I'm going to die! And you'll be there when it happens!" it yelled.

As the zombie spoke, its free hand began to slowly creep down Alaara's body reaching lower and lower.

It didn't take Alaara long to realize what was about to happen and her eyes widened in worry.

"No..."

* * *

Kraan gave an angry groan as he regained consciousness. If he found out this was another one of Dash's increasingly irritating tricks, he was not going to bother trying to retrain his temper this time.

As he looked around and saw no one in sight however, he was forced to admit that this time it was not Dash's doing. After a few seconds he almost started to wish it had been, almost...

It was as he started looking around for the others he became aware also that all his weapons and armour had been taken. This began to make Kraan nervous. True he was a Krogan who was still more than capable of putting up a fight, but having seen how unnaturally strong the Commander was when he lifted Kraan by just one hand with ease... these days he didn't feel as safe or strong as he used to.

He was suddenly surprised when he saw all of Alpha somehow appear out of nowhere in front of him, almost making him jump.

He was about to say something when all the others spoke before him.

"Weak!" They all said in sync.

Kraan tried to speak again, but the others once again spoke before him.

"Always hungry!"

Kraan could not deny his temper was starting to rise. Why were they doing this? Why taunt him in this way?

"So tiny!"

Kraan tried to walk away, but the second he tried, he found his path blocked by Dash, who somehow pushed him with such force that it knocked him off his feet.

Kraan's anger grew to almost breaking point. Smashing his fist into the ground, Kraan forced himself back onto his feet and swung a punch at Dash that was so hard it could almost certainly have taken his head clean off.

To Kraan's astonishment however, his fist hit Dash with a light thump as though he were only hitting a piece of flesh with the barest amount of force.

He then felt himself seized by hands from behind and pulled right back onto his back.

"WEAK!"

Kraan tried to get back up, but they kept pushing him back down. He felt his strength leave him completely. He'd never felt so helpless.

* * *

Ventra's first instinct was to make sure he had his bow. As a hunter, it was a thing he felt he had to have. He quickly became concerned when he found it was nowhere on him. He became even more concerned when he found his squad mates were nowhere to be seen.

It was as he worked on getting up however, he suddenly felt his feet kick something buried in the sand. He immediately worked on clearing the sand and found it was his bow. This did at least provide some relief.

However it still didn't answer his question of where the others were.

As he looked around however, suddenly out of nowhere he saw several Hellspawn troopers.

He found himself in the middle of a battle between the troopers and the rest of Alpha. As if reacting on instinct, Ventra immediately took an arrow for each trooper, aimed and fired.

It was as if he fired the last one that he suddenly noticed to his horror, that every single arrow had missed their mark... and had hit Alpha instead.

Ventra did not notice that the Hellspawn troopers had mysteriously disappeared due to the fact that his sole focus right now was that he had actually shot arrows into all f his team mates.

Everyone except Leena had already fallen and died. Ventra could only watch, frozen in place, as the huge Quarian fell to her knees. She clutched at the arrow in her chest in pain.

"You were supposed to be a good shot." She coughed, clearly choking on her own blood. "This is all your fault!"

Ventra tried to speak, but his words just seemed to stick in his throat.

He hung his head in sorrow as Leena drew her last breath and died. His moment of mourning however was suddenly interrupted when he found all of Alpha slowly rising back up.

Ventra's keen eye immediately noticed that they were all different. They looked as though they'd been dead for weeks. If anything, they looked more like zombies.

Ventra immediately reached for another arrow and fired it at one of the zombie Alpha's head. Thanks to living and working with humans for many years, he knew that the head was the part to aim for.

The arrow however did not hit its target. Instead, it flew right past.

Ventra looked at his bow for a moment in disbelief.

He missed. How the hell could he have missed? He'd got the aim just right, he'd kept his arm steady, and he'd even held his breath while taking aim and firing.

The zombies of Alpha began to slowly advance on him from all sides.

"You missed! And now you'll always miss! We died because you missed!" Said the zombie of Austin.

Ventra fired another shot, this time actually waiting and making absolutely sure that the arrow was aimed right at the head of the zombie of Kraan.

He fired... and it missed again...

* * *

Leena checked that there weren't any ruptures in her suit and that nothing had been done to tamper with it.

Reassured that there was nothing out of the ordinary, Leena began looking around for the others.

She became concerned upon not finding the other. That however was pushed to the back of her mind when she saw a completely different figure emerge.

At first she thought it was another Helldiver. But when the figure got closer and clearer, she realized to her surprise that it was a Quarian.

But not just any Quarian. She recognized the figure very quickly.

"No. Nononono. You're dead. You died years ago." She said.

It was none other than the lover she had left the Migrant fleet to be with, only to later discover that he had died.

"It was your fault, you know." The phantom said. "And look what it's left you with... a body that no one could possibly love."

Leena was hurt by this. The muscle that she had worked so hard to obtain mattered a great deal to her. In made her feel stronger and more self confident. But to hear her lover talk this way about her like that...

"No man in their right mind could love some freak of nature like you."

Lenna then began to hear dozen of voices whispering all kinds of mean words directed at her appearance. At the same time she felt as if she was being overcrowded. Some kind of shadow was slowly growing from the phantom of her lover and slowly closing around her.

She wanted to fight back, but the constant whispers and voices just made her feel so small and insignificantly weak.

* * *

Dash found it somewhat annoying that the author had written that he and the others had gotten knocked out. Especially when things had started to get quite scary.

"You've already read the paragraphs for the others, so I'll just skip right to it, readers." He said.

However the desired effect did not happen. Instead, a voice suddenly echoed around him.

"Dash..."

Dash looked around. All he could see was darkness and shadow. The atmosphere felt very cold and something about it made him feel very lonely.

"Daaaaaaash..."

Dash reached for his pistols cautiously, but found they were gone. His heart began beating faster as he braced himself for an imminent. He'd seen dozens of horror films to be familiar with this sort of situation. That still didn't help how nervous he was though being in this situation.

"Dash..."

"Show yourself!" the scout yelled.

He then saw it. Some kind of shadowy figure crawling on a rock just a few feet away from him.

The figure looked about his size with an unbelievably skinny frame, burning red eyes and nothing but shadow and darkness masking the fact that it had no clothes on.

"Dash hates me. Yes!" the figure said.

It then suddenly lunged at Dash and pinned him to the ground. Dash tried to fight, but the figure's strength was immense.

"Dash doesn't play with me anymore. Dash thinks he's not worthy."

The figure then threw Dash into the nearby rock.

"I don't recognize you." Dash groaned as he picked himself up.

"Do you not see what is inside yourself?" said the figure, crawling along the ground like some kind of animal.

It was now that Dash began to realize who this figure was. The figure seemed to notice this too.

"Samuel showed you a brief glimpse of the future. You know exactly what is going to happen to us." It said. "Our madness will consume us. Our friends will turn on us and they'll lock us up. You know it's going to happen. Why fight against your imminent madness?"

"I choose not to give you power." Said Dash defiantly.

"And yet you spend your days as a soldier. Always fighting, in the decadence of war, and with that I grow stronger inside you. Know your true self. Face me now... or I will consume you." The figure growled.

* * *

Hawk shook his head as he regained consciousness and blinked several times until he could see enough.

He looked around to see that there was no sign of the others. All that he saw around him was a pile of bones. Hawk just assumed that this was what had happened to the skeletons of the colonies inhabitants.

He was concerned however with what had happened to the others. It was as he picked himself up and began to look for the others however that he suddenly heard something.

It was very faint, but it seemed to be a constant rattling sound. It was it got louder however Hawk suddenly froze.

He'd heard that sound before. A part of his mind was still in denial and he kept trying to tell himself that he didn't know for certain that it was what he feared it was. That moment of denial however was short lived when another sound joined the rattling. An unmistakable hissing sound.

Hawk immediately felt that he was shaking inside his suit with terror. Already his eyes kept scanning the area at a fast rate, hoping and praying to catch an early warning glimpse before it was too late.

The hissing and the rattling grew louder and was getting undeniably closer. Hawk was so tempted to run, but at the same time he feared he could run right into it. The fog and mist didn't help either.

Hawk was an Ophidiophobe. He was terrified of snakes, particularly Cobras and rattlesnakes. He'd never told Alpha this at all, but at the same time he'd never tried to keep it a secret.

People would normally think that would hardly be the greatest fear of a soldier, but sadly this was a childhood fear that Hawk had never gotten over, despite his best attempts. He'd been bitten once by a King Cobra when he was very little. Naturally though he had survived since he was still here, but it had been a very lucky escape. He'd only just been cured in time before the venom killed him.

To make matters worse he'd been bitten again by another Cobra several years later. Once again he was cured in time, but he suffered greatly. For almost a month he kept having nightmares about a giant demonic monster cobra and eventually he became terrified of snakes in general. In fact, rattlesnakes terrified him just as much. There mere sound of the rattle they made was enough to make him freeze in horror.

Sure enough, to Hawk's utter horror, out of the darkness rose a huge mass. Two burning red eyes slowly opened and the mass eventually cleared, revealing it to literally be a gigantic demonic cobra. This was then followed by a second mass which soon turned into a demonic rattlesnake.

Hawk tried to run but quickly found himself surrounded by the body and tail of the cobra.

The two snakes opened their mouths wide and bared their fangs, which were dripping with venom, and hissed loudly as they eyed him hungrily.

Hawk felt like a child again. Helpless, little and defenceless against these monsters and there was no mother or father to come and save him...

* * *

Austin managed to dodge under another swipe from one of the zombies of Alpha and finally managed to get out of the circle they'd formed around him. In desperation, he tried to look for something to use to defend himself.

By some stroke of luck, he noticed a shield of some kind that had been partially buried in the sand.

Without any hesitation, he snatched the shield up and began using it. The zombies attack, but he managed to use the shield to block their attacks and at the same used the shield to whack them away.

Sadly it only seemed to disorient them at the best and they were quick to recover and resume their attack.

This continued for several minute before Austin finally seemed to tire. The zombies just weren't staying down.

Finally, Austin felt he would just have to accept it.

Panting, and almost out of breath, he fell to his knees as the zombies continued advancing on him, still continuing to change. "YOU LET US DIE!"

"You're right." He said. "Maybe it is my fault. Maybe it was because of me that you died and there's nothing I can do t stop that. But as long as I'm still breathing, I'm not going to let it stop me. I'm never going to give up on you."

To his complete surprise, the zombies suddenly stopped. They then started to convulse in pain as though they'd been suddenly hit with an unimaginable amount of pain.

Within just a few seconds they seemed to suddenly melt into nothing. The mist and fog around Austin then started to get stronger, as though he'd suddenly ended up inside a hurricane...

* * *

Troy was constantly fighting off attacks from Trojan as she swung metal punch after metal punch at the Helldiver.

A mistimed counter caused one of Trojan's fists to hit his helmet with a loud clang, causing him to fall flat on his back.

Trojan then seized him by the neck and brought her other fist back, ready to deliver the final blow.

It was at this point that Troy gave in. He accepted the truth at long last.

"You're not real, Sonya. You're just an illusion of the past I regret. I left for the right reasons that even you didn't want to come with me. If you were in my position, you would do the same damn thing. You chose to stay with him for whatever reason you had for becoming inhuman. I swore to the Council that I would bring down Hellspawn. Even if it would involve...killing you. I'm not just a spy who worked for the Commander, I'm a spy who loved a genius hacker he turned into cyborg, a traitor to Hellspawn. Not his puppet. I'm better than all of it. I know what you became. You've made your choice...and I've made mine. I accept that now. If I want to take down the Commander and his terrorist group, I have to let you go."

He turned his back.

"Goodbye, Sonya."

He heard a scream as Trojan dissolved into nothing.

He then noticed how the fog and mist was starting to swirl around him. He could only hope that whatever was going to happen next was a good thing...

* * *

Alaara struggled against the zombie Sandra as it's hand crept down to her lower regions. It was impossible to deny that it intended to rape her.

Alaara made one desperate attempt to somehow stop this. She concentrated as much as she could and spoke with her mind.

" _Sandra... please... don't!"_

* * *

Sandra struggled against her evil clone's vice like grip. It was as she almost about to give in that she suddenly heard something in her mind.

" _Sandra... please... don't!"_

Somehow, as if knowing what to do, Sandra replied in her head.

" _Alaara?"_

* * *

Alaara's gaze lingered on the zombie of Sandra as she heard the reply. Its expression remained unchanged, as though it had just been completely oblivious to the telepathic exchange.

" _I thought you were dead."_ She heard Sandra's voice say.

 _"Please... don't rape me."_ Said Alaara, ignoring Sandra's earlier reply.

Sandra was puzzled by this. Why would her love be begging her not to rape her? She would never do that to Alaara.

" _What are you talking about?"_ she asked, managing to find some strength to resist her clone's grip. _"Right now I'm getting strangled by an evil twin of myself wearing my father's armour. And where are you anyway? I saw your severed head earlier?"_

* * *

Alaara was surprised by this. She cast another look at the figure and quickly thought of a way to provide herself with proof.

" _Move your arm."_

" _What?"_

" _Move your right arm. Because right now I'm looking at a demonic version of you that's about to try and rape me."_

Sandra wanted to inquire about this, but given how it definitely sounded like her love was in danger, she didn't hesitate. She waved her right arm several times much to the confusion of her clone.

" _I just waved my arm several times."_ She said. _"Did the demon of me do it?"_

* * *

Alaara hadn't blinked... and the demons arm hadn't done anything of the sort. That was all the proof Alaara needed.

"You're not her." She said.

The demon froze... just as its hand had been about to enter her.

"You're not my bondmate! You're an illusion, nothing more!"

The demon roared at her, but she surprisingly punched it right in the face with a biotic punch.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I will outlive Sandra. But that's not going to change anything. I love her, and as long as I do I'm going to cherish every second I have with her. An if you think you can terrify me with this... then you can go fuck yourself!" she yelled.

The demon screamed as if in pain as she seemed to dissolve into nothing.

Almost immediately, the fog and mist began to swirl around her. Knowing that she didn't have much time, she immediately spoke to Sandra again in her mind.

* * *

" _It's not real! Its just an illusion!"_

It was all she managed.

Sandra heard those last words very clearly.

Her full attention turned back to her clone. Something felt different now. She didn't feel helpless anymore. She felt as though her strength had somehow returned. With newfound confidence, she grabbed both her clone's arms and actually forced them off.

The clone was taken completely aback by this and tried to recoil almost in shock. Sandra released the arms, but she didn't give the clone anytime to react. With a mighty lunge, she thrust her fist forward and punched right through the clone's heart.

The clone fell to its knees and pain, looking helplessly at Sandra, who know stood over it.

"The future it not set in stone." The Helldiver said. "I don't care if it's my destiny or not. I control my future, and as long as I do I will never become you. You're not my future. You're just my fear... and you don't control my future.

With that, she pulled her fist out, tearing the clone's heart out of its chest in the process. The clone screamed in pain as it dissolved into nothing and disappeared.

As the fog and mist began to circle around her, Sandra braced herself for what was to come. She made sure that she kept thinking of Alaara as it happened. Long as her love was safe, she didn't care what happened next.

* * *

Kraan continued to struggle against the shadow figures of Alpha who kept pushing him around.

Eventually, he gave in. He never thought he'd admit this.

"You're right." He said.

For some reason, the shadows all stopped.

"I am weak. Maybe I never will be the strongest there is. But I'm not gonna let that stop me. If I die, I only ever die fighting." Said Kraan.

He then stood up confidently, causing the shadow t back away as if in fright.

"So go on then. Push me around as much as you want. I can take it. You may think me weak, and perhaps I am physically... but not in mind." He said.

To his astonishment, they all vanished as he found himself surrounded by more mist and fog swirling around him, the speed constantly increasing.

He didn't feel afraid though. Something about this told the Krogan it was a good sign.

* * *

Ventra kept trying to fire, but his arrow continued to miss. Eventually an epiphany came to him. An epiphany that allowed him fight his fear.

"You think I'm always gonna miss? Fine." He said.

This seemed to make the zombie Alpha stop suddenly.

"I may say "one shot, one kill" but I'm not gonna let my fear of missing control me." Ventra continued.

Without even thinking about it, he then drew another arrow from his back and fired it. He didn't even wait. He just fired on instinct. To also add to that, he instead tried to miss.

The arrow hit one of the zombies right in the head.

"Nobody's perfect... but I'm a survivor... I'm a hunter... and I am not afraid of you!" he yelled as he did the same for every single one of the zombies until only he remained standing.

He kept another arrow ready as the fog and mist began to swirl around him. Having overcome his fear, he was not afraid of this at all.

* * *

Leena took several deep breaths as the voices around her continued.

Finally, she opened her eyes. Although they couldn't be seen from behind her helmet and face mask, they were calm and focused.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I have made myself into something that no one will ever love. But so what? I'm not looking for peace. I'm a soldier. I'm a Helldiver. This strength is who I am, and if it means there's something I can't have... then so be it. No pain, no gain as they say." She said.

"You can't shut me out, Leena!" the phantom yelled.

"Watch me." Said Leena, turning her back. "You're dead, and nothing is going to bring you back. The past... is the past."

With that, she grabbed the locket she'd always kept around her neck and ripped it off.

She heard the unmistakable sound of the phantom vanishing behind her. At the same time, the voices also stopped.

As Leena watched the fog and mist start to surround her she braced herself. She was unable to resist a slight shake in order to loosen her muscles up a little.

* * *

Dash tried to get a strike in, but his mad shadow clone kept grabbing and throwing him before he even got a chance.

"You are not a part of me." Dash groaned as he once again smashed into a nearby rock.

"I AM a part of you!" the clone yelled. "Why do you hate what you are?"

As the clone readied to attack again however, Dash looked up at him with a new look.

"You are the madness within me..." he said. "I accept you... but you do not control me."

He then grabbed the clone by the head with both hands. The clone screamed as though Dash's touch was burning it. Sure enough the clone seemed to glow red where Dash was touching it and then literally exploded into nothing.

"Now what?" Dash asked as he noticed how the fog and mist was starting to swirl around him.

Hawk for a moment closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. But then a sudden thought hit him.

This was not how he wanted to die. If he was going to die because of these snakes, he would not die cowering or frightened like a little child.

To the surprise of the demonic cobra and rattlesnake, Hawk slowly got back up onto his feet and seemed to actually stand up to them.

"Come on then! Bite me! I dare you! I double dare you!" Hawk yelled.

The two massive snakes looked rather confused, and almost frightened at this sudden outburst.

"If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die fighting! So do it. Do it!" Hawk continued yelling. "COME ON! KILL ME! I'M HERE! DO IT NOW! KILL ME! KILL ME!"

To Hawk's complete surprise, both giant snakes seem to suddenly writhe violently as though they were pain and seemed to literally rot into shadow until they'd completely disappeared.

Hawk felt somewhat relieved as the fog and mist began to swirl around him. He just hoped however that there wouldn't be any more snakes.

* * *

Everyone awoke with a start. They immediately looked around to find each there by their sides. Alaara and Sandra especially flung their arms around each other so tightly it was any wonder they didn't crush their armour.

"Everyone alright?" Austin asked with relief as he and the others got back on their feet.

"I think so." Hawk replied. "What the hell was all that?"

"A hallucination." Said Sandra. "It all makes sense now. That's the Commander's weapon... Fear.

"Well at least it's all over now." Dash panted with relief.

It was as the Scout took a few steps back however he suddenly felt himself knock into something. Expecting it just be a pillar he turned around casually. What he saw however made him jump out of his skin.

Stood in front of him was a massively tall figure with black hair, unnaturally long claw like fingers and burning red eyes.

Dash practically screamed as he found himself looking face to face when none other than a very real Shagowroth.

Everyone else jumped back in alarm as they turned and noticed the ghostly figure standing in front of them. Before they even had a chance to reach for their weapons, the demonic ghost lunged at them, hitting every single one of them with her claws so hard that it knocked them all down. This time they weren't knocked out, but it still hurt. By the time Alpha managed to get back up, she appeared to have vanished from sight.

"Jesus Christ! She's real?!" Dash said in fright.

The air suddenly became filled with a terrifying scream, so loud and so terrifying... it could've woken the dead.

"Please tell me that wasn't..."

But before Troy could finish, Alpha suddenly noticed something burst out of the ground a few metres away from them followed by several more bursts around them. It was as the sand cleared they suddenly noticed what the things that had burst out of the ground were. They were hands!

Sure enough, arms followed, then a body and a head. Until literally, an entire army of zombies rose out of the ground, growling and snarling loudly.

"OH FUCK ME, NO!" said Dash. "First a demonic chick, now fucking zombies! Why is it always us?"

At the same time, a massive ring of fire seemed to suddenly ignite around the entire colony, essentially trapping them. The sky also took on a dark and almost hell like look.

As Alpha drew their weapons and readied for a fight, they spotted Shagowroth as she crawled up on top of a nearby rock.

"You are not gonna like what comes next." She said with a multitude of different demonic feminine voices.

"Stand your ground!" Austin ordered. "If we beat her mind tricks, we can beat her army!"

The zombies attacked first. They tried to separate Alpha, but the squad stood their ground, they cut, chopped and shot at every single one that came close enough.

Surprisingly, it all seemed to be over in less than a minute.

With the dead army supposedly dealt with, Alpha turned their attention to Shagowroth who was still observing from a nearby rock.

The demon snarled at them and then disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Everyone kept alert in case she should suddenly try and sneak up on them again.

Sure enough, Shagowroth suddenly appeared right in the middle of their circle. This time they were ready for it, but it still didn't stop the demon from managing to hit Kraan so hard that he was sent flying and in the process knocked Hawk down as well.

The others quickly engaged. Shagowroth seemed to use some kind of levitation power to float in the air in order to compensate for her lack of legs and used her claws to both block Alpha's attack and return with her own attacks.

Swinging low, one of Shagowroth's left claws caught Alaara's leg and tripped her up. A mistimed block from Dash also caused Shagowroth to hit him in the helmet, knocking him on his back.

Austin attempted a swipe at Shagowroth with his sword but the demon ducked under at, swiping at Ventra's feet as she did so and tripping up the Turian.

How as the demon rose back up she failed to react in time to Leena who swung with both her tomahawk and knife. Shagowroth however disappeared once again in a cloud of black smoke just as the blades touched her.

Everyone quickly got back up onto their feet and braced for another attack. Now more familiar with Shagowroth's fighting style and attack, they were better prepared this time. Though that didn't stop their fast heart beats as they waited for the demon to appear again.

"Where'd she go?" Troy asked.

His answer quickly came as Shagowroth appeared once again and lunged at Hawk.

"Hawk, look out!" Austin yelled.

Hawk just in time managed to bring up his axe and blocked the demon's attack.

The battle resumed with Shagowroth pressing the attack first before Alpha eventually turned the tables and all attacked at once. Shagowroth only just managed to keep up and block all the attacks. Alpha was also a lot more coordinated this time rather than attacking desperately.

Hawk managed to block several of Shagowroth's attacks before he took an opening and actually managed to hi the demon with a punch which knocked her back a tiny bit. As she was knocked back she attempted a swipe at Sandra but the Helldiver managed to lean back enough that she avoided it.

Shagowroth quickly resumed her attack on Hawk. The sniper was unprepared for this and he ended up once again being knocked back, this time colliding with a nearby large rock.

With Hawk dealt with, Shagowroth focused her attack on the others. With a quick lunge from her left hand she managed to grab Ventra by the neck and threw him to the ground. Dash in the process backed away into another nearby rock. Dash only just managed to duck down in time as Shagowroth swiped with hands, her claws cutting right through the rock.

At the same time, Kraan had finally come to after being knocked down earlier and was slowly getting back up, observing the fight as he did so.

As Shagowroth's claws clashed with Austin's blade, Dash managed to land a hit on her from behind. He regretted that however as the demon swiftly turned to face him, her eyes burning as they glared at him angrily.

"Sorry." Dash said embarrassingly.

Shagowroth hit Dash with a hard punch which knocked him back and onto his front.

Troy managed to counter most of the demon's attacks, but the last one caught his leg and he fell to his knees. With a clear opening, Shagowroth swung her right hand down.

"Troy!"

Just in time, Hawk skidding in-between the two and blocked Shagowroth's claws with his axe.

Austin then pressed the attack, striking Shagowroth's claws multiple times with his sword. The demon blocked every one before finally attacking and managing to knock Austin to the floor.

Hoping to stop Shagowroth from finishing Austin off while he was down, Lena threw her tomahawk. As it hit Shagowroth however, she once again disappeared.

Leena looked around nervously. Sure enough, she managed to spot Shagowroth just as she appeared again above her. The demon lunged at her and pinned her to the ground.

Alaara tried to fire at her with his pistols, but the bullets didn't seem to hurt her whatsoever. The demon didn't even seem to acknowledge this. Instead she just continued to push down on Leena, her claws getting closer and closer to the Quarian's helmet.

Right as it looked like the claws were going to touch her though, something suddenly grabbed at Shagowroth's rags and pulled her right off Leena. The Quarian immediately rolled back onto her feet as Kraan stood over the demon. Before Shagowroth had a chance to get back up, Kraan grabbed her again. He then threw her with such force that she was sent flying.

Just as it looked like Shagowroth was about to vanish again however she was suddenly impaled in the shoulder by Sandra, who had plunged one of her Sais right in. The demon screamed in agony as the wound seemed to glow a bright gold.

With an angry roar of pain, Shagowroth hit Sandra in the face, causing her to stagger back and the sai to fall out. After that, Shagowroth immediately disappeared again.

Sandra and the rest of Alpha were left a little surprised at this. Previous times when the demon had taken a hit she'd instantly vanished. But the impalement from the sai had actually injured her.

And then it hit them. Sandra gaze fell to her Sais. Austin also looked at his own sword. Both weapons were made from pure Kartalrium. That metal could injure the demon... maybe even...

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Austin asked.

"We sure are." Alaara nodded.

Shagowroth quickly appeared again, ready for another fight, her wound still glowing. She looked even more angry than she had before.

"Hey, ugly!"

Shagowroth turned to face Sandra.

"I'm standing right here! Take me!"

Shagowroth didn't hesitate and lunged at Sandra, pinning her to the ground.

"You see my face, your life is done!" the demon roared, opening her mouth wide as if preparing to devour.

Sandra seized her chance and with almost lighting speed plunged both her Sais into Shagowroth's hands, pinning the demon in place. Shagowroth screamed and struggled violently as she tried to free herself, but was unable to overcome the Kartalrium. Sandra quickly moved her head to the side as she saw Austin leap onto Shagowroth and he plunged Excalibur right through her chest. The demon was struck with both shock and pain and spat out what seemed like a litre of blood. Austin then pulled the sword upwards, slicing Shagowroth's head completely in half.

"YEAH!" Dash cheered in triumph.

As the dead body of Shagowroth fell to the floor it seemed to explode into black fog of some kind which as it exploded outward seemed to be tearing at the environment like someone brushing dust off an old relic.

When it finally subsided it revealed a rather shocking sight. The colony was as it had been before, but this time there were hundreds more dead skeletons and bodies than there had been before. Some of them even looked only weeks old judging from their various different states of decay.

"What just happened?" Alaara asked in confusion.

"These must be all the other unfortunate souls who got too close to this place and couldn't fight back. Killed by their own minds." Sandra sighed sadly.

At that moment, all their comms finally buzzed back into life and they heard the welcome voice of both Telrass and Alexa.

" _Dammit, Alexa! If I don't hear anything from them in the next five minutes I'm going in after them!"_ said Telrass.

Austin quickly reactivated his comms. After all they'd been through, it was good to hear Telrass' voice again.

"Telrass, this is Shepard."

There was a momentary pause before a reply finally came. Though it did make Alpha wish they'd turned the volume down.

" _WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!"_ Telrass practically shouted. _"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED YOU'VE MADE US?! WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT YOU FOR AN HOUR! WHAT HAPPENED?!"_

"We were exposed to a powerful hallucinogen of some kind." Austin replied.

Telrass' anger quickly disappeared and was replaced with concern.

" _Hallucinogen? Is everyone alright?"_ she asked a little worriedly.

"Everyone's fine. We're just... shaken up." Dash panted.

" _Did you find the weapon?"_

"Yeah. We'll explain everything once we're back onboard." Austin replied.

Alpha relayed the entire story to Telrass and Alexa once they were back on board. The Turian and pilot looked almost ready to faint once they'd finished.

"I've heard of many powerful hallucinogens in my time, but this..." said Telrass.

"Fear is a great motivator." Said Troy. "Rodriguez used to say that a lot. Never thought he'd take it that far though."

"This isn't your fault, Troy." Said Alexa. "He made this thing. Him alone. And I have a feeling it was even before you worked for him."

Troy looked up and smiled at Alexa, who in turn smiled back.

"So what happens now?" Dash asked.

"We inform the council and let them know to mark this planet as hazardous." Said Austin.

"Speaking of which..." Telrass quickly interjected. "The council tried to contact you not too long after we lost contact. After you left the asylum they sent a squad to re-establish control. Per your recommendations, they had Samuel transferred to Arkadia. It took some time, but they got some interesting things out of him. You're going to want to hear this."

She walked up to her control panel and played back a recording. Samuel's voice echoed throughout the gunship.

* * *

Many years ago, a Batarian slave party stumbled upon a human colony. One of the Batarians took particular interest in a human woman. He raped her… and he unintentionally impregnated her. Despite the dangers to the child from cross species DNA outside of an Asari union, the mother could not find it in her heart to abort the child. At first, all appeared well and she had a very healthy human child. Over time however, things began to change. Though the boy was healthy and very smart, she could tell there was something about him. He never cried and showed very little emotion. Dogs would always bark at him, before then fleeing in fear of the child's willingness to kill them if they didn't stop. He never even said the phrase "I love you" towards her and would sometimes disappear for days before suddenly reappearing again. It was when Rodriguez was ten however that the damage truly began to show. While playing with many of the other children on the colony, a Turian child attempted to bully him. Bounty however turned the tables on the Turian and broke his spine. No one else had seen what happened, and since the Turian was left traumatized by the event it was assumed that he fell from a climbing frame. Bounty's mother however became suspicious when her son showed no emotion or concern to the Turian's accident. She was even more shocked when he said that he deserved it for being where he didn't belong. From that day, Bounty's hatred for anything not human began to show. He refused to make friends with any of the aliens living on the colony with him and often got into fights if ever one of them insulted or dared to try and pick on him. When Bounty had just turned 13 however, that was when things truly changed forever. The colony was invaded again by Batarian salvers, including the boy's father. Recognizing the woman, the Batarian bragged about their last time together, not knowing that the son he had unintentionally fathered was nearby. Disgusted and infuriated to learn of his true parentage, Bounty burst into the room and snatched his father's gun from him. He then shot the Batarian in both legs and arms and made him suffer from blood loss before finally smashing his father's head in. Bounty expected that his mother would simply thank him for saving her, but he was wrong. She had seen how he enjoyed the torture and she could now truly see the monster she had once thought was her son. Frightened and angry, she attempted to kill him. The boy however stopped her. In defence, he crushed her legs with a large pillar… which was on fire. He simply watched as his mother was burned alive, finding enjoyment in her screams. Just before she succumbed, he told her how much he hated her for not telling him what he was and that he would have rather died than live knowing he was the son of an alien, something he was disgusted by. However, Bounty no longer desired to end his own life. He had finally found something he enjoyed in life. His hatred for aliens also manifested as a desire that humanity had never come in contact with other races in the first place. When the other Batarian's arrived and saw the dead body of their leader, they prepared to kill the child. Once again however, Bounty turned the tables and killed them all, letting them all suffer by his hand and dying slow painful deaths. The rest of the remaining colonists witnessed this. While at first glad to see the salver's dead, they saw how much Bounty had enjoyed making them suffer. Leaving no witnesses, Bounty wiped out the colonists, giving only the human ones quick and painless deaths. The aliens, he tortured for days, finding new ways to prolong their suffering. When a Helldiver team finally arrived and saw Bounty as the only living one left, they believed he was the only survivor. They later offered him a home on Arkadia and a chance to join the Helldivers when he was old enough.

Rather than stay on Arkadia until coming of age like other orphans would do when they desired to join, the by instead went to earth. He spent the next few years living a quiet and mostly solitary life in Transylvania. It was here that he discovered a long lost secret. Through his mother, he was a long lost descendant of Vlad the Impaler. As a tribute to both his bloodline and his ancestor, he changed his middle name to Vlad.

When the time finally came, Rodriguez joined the Helldiver. For a few years he found peace within their ranks due to working with a human only squad. As he rose through the ranks all the way to Lieutenant he eventually developed a desire to reach the rank of Commander. During his time as a Helldiver he also became acquainted with two particular individuals who would play an important part in future events, a hacker and a Spy.

One day, Rodriguez and the Spy conceived the idea of a spy network. A network able to do what even the Arkane's best spies would be unable to.

What happened after though, you already know. What happened after however... now that is a different story.

After finally being stabilized following the incident which burned his face, the Commander sent out a call to his former allies who had aided him in the spy network. The Hacker and most other answered the call. Only one, the Spy, did not.

The Commander returned to Earth. Having used the wealth he once had, he had bought and rebuilt the fortress his ancestor once ruled in Transylvania. There he made his vow. He would transform the spy network into an organization that would rival the one his ancestor once possessed and would use it to exact revenge on the Helldivers. Thus Hellspawn was born, and the fallen Helldiver who had become its Supreme Leader chose the name Commander, the rank he had so desired.

It was as Hellspawn grew however, the Commander came to realize his fortress was not ideal for hiding such a large army and any attempt to expand its size would attract too much attention. So he relocated to a different planet, a planet where the dark fortress Vermithrax was built.

* * *

There was a long silence before someone finally spoke.

"All that stuff he says about being anti alien... and yet he himself is only half human." Said Sandra.

"I always knew there was something wrong about him, but half Batarian..." said Troy.

"And the Curse of Shagowroth..." said Dash.

"All his creation." Said Austin. "Fear and superstition from other people did the rest."

"I don't know about you guys, but... after all that, I'm now wanting more than ever to put a bullet in that monster's head." Said Hawk.

"With you on that, Hawk." Said Dash.

"Well, in the meantime I recommend you all get some rest. You've earned it." Said Alexa, returning the gunship's cockpit.

Everyone couldn't agree more and laid down on the seats, all letting out relaxing sighs as they did.

"When I get home, I am gonna get so drunk." Said Sandra.

"Me too." Said Alaara.

"You got that right." Telrass smiled.

Only Troy did not relax. His gaze was lingering on the entrance to the cockpit where Alexa was sat. He finally made his mind up and went over, leaning his face in through the doorway.

"Hey. Do you mind if I sit up here? Hard to sleep with Kraan's snoring." He asked.

To be fair, that wasn't a lie. Kraan had already fallen asleep and actually was snoring, quite loudly. Having lived with him for so long, the others had managed to get used to it. Troy though...

"Make yourself at home." Alexa simply smiled.

"Merci."

Troy sat down in the seat opposite Alexa's and stretched out.

From the other side, Alexa was trying to keep her eyes on the controls. Wasn't proving easy though. Mind you, it wasn't hard for her to guess why Troy was really here. She decided she'd make the first move.

"Do you blame yourself..." she asked. "...for what happened to her?"

"Yes." Troy replied, looking out to the stars.

This answer disappointed Alexa.

"Or at least I used to." Said Troy. "What I saw today... it opened my eyes. I can't change what she's become. She made her choice, just as I've made mine. I will mourn the woman she was, not that machine she's become."

Alexa kept her eyes on the controls, but she was finding all the more difficult to continue doing so.

"It's time I moved on, and instead focused on the person I care about most." Troy continued, his gaze falling on Alexa.

Alexa looked at Troy. Her expression was calm, but there was a hint of surprise on her face. Had Troy really just said that? Had he really just called her "the person he cared about most"?

"I've known for a while now. I've seen the stares, the attempts at conversation, the support... I've caught the hints." He said.

Alexa's expression remained unchanged, making it hard for Troy to know how she was feeling right now. Still remaining calm, Alexa put the gunship on auto pilot and removed her flight helmet. She then turned her seat and slowly got up. For a moment, Troy became a little worried that she was going to walk out and leave him alone.

"I'm just sorry it took so long for..."

What happened next however caught the spy completely off guard. To his utter surprise, Alexa walked up to him, grabbed his face and pulled him right into a kiss. Troy at first had no idea how to react to this, but his shock quickly subsided and he returned the kiss.

The two were so engrossed that they didn't notice the door to the cockpit close.

* * *

"Oh come on!" Dash moaned.

"Make any attempt to open that door and I promise you'll have a black eye for months." Said Telrass.

"Fine." Dash sighed as he lay back down.

"Gotta admit, I certainly didn't see that one coming." Said Austin.

"No. You wouldn't. Women are often ahead of men when it comes to romance." Said Alaara.

Everyone else simply smiled, particularly Hawk who put his hands behind his head as he settled back into his seat.

"You know, after all we've been through... do you think we'll ever have a normal, quiet mission again?" he asked.

Everyone simply chuckled and all replied at once.

"No."

* * *

**Well the good news at least is the next chapter won't be as dark. Normal service will be resumed.**

**In fact, the next one will be a fairly significant one in Alpha's life, especially since its mentioned on countless occasions throughout the original trilogy.**

**Until next time! :)**

**Keep leaving reviews. I always enjoy reading them.**


	21. Chapter 21, Origins of The Enemy

**Still alive, I assure you.**

**Believe** **it or not, this did actually take some time to write but I got there in the end. Decided this time we'd delve into the past of the villains a bit here. This whole story is about Origins after all.**

**Slight warning, chapter contains some nudity near the beginning and also a really huge sex scene at the end. So just warning in advance those whoa rent' into that stuff.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**YEAR 7, The Gathering Darkness**

**2179: 7 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**8 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"Nothing hugely important really happened at this point in our story to be honest, but I feel it's important that the stories of the enemy be told as well..."_

* * *

**Chapter 21**

**Origins of the Enemy**

Austin was up earlier than the others so that he could take care of a few things before it got busy. If he knew the Arkane Council as well as he did, chances were they were going to be given another mission.

Right now he was typing a message to send to Nyarra. He hadn't seen her for a long time now and he felt bad for it.

Fortunately, Alpha finally had some shore leave again. So he hoped he'd be able to use some of that time to pay a visit. That was assuming of course she wasn't too busy. Lately her business had soared hugely so there had been a few times when she'd been too busy during shore leave.

Austin finished typing the message and reread it just to make sure he hadn't made any mistakes. Especially since Dash used to make an odd comment of how his spelling and grammar mistakes were so similar to the author's (even if they were purely accidental)

Despite everything, Austin doubted he'd ever understood how Dash's mind worked, or why the scout kept making references that their universe was some kind of story.

After finishing his check, he pressed send.

_My squad and I have shore next week. You free at all?_

Austin didn't expect to get an instant reply. Especially with the time difference on planets and all that. Right as he was about to close his omni tool however, it suddenly bleeped. Nyarra had replied.

_Absolutely! Come on Friday and we'll have the whole weekend to ourselves. I've also got a surprise for you._

That alone was enough to peak Austin's interest. Usually when Nyarra had a surprise for him, it was quite a big one. Mostly it was something new for them to do or try during their more... intimate moments, but still...

Pleased with the outcome, Austin typed a reply.

_See you on Friday then._

Friday was actually perfect for him. He'd be able to spend most of the week on leave with the rest of Alpha, most likely hitting a bar or night club, and could then spend the whole weekend with Nyarra. Overall, a week to look forward to.

Nyarra then replied one last time.

_I'll look forward to it. See you soon._

Austin smiled and closed his omni tool.

* * *

Sandra yawned as she woke up. She could already feel the familiar feeling of a hangover. Last night had been a hell of a party. It hadn't been any special occasion; Alpha had just decided to have a party last night. Although Helldivers had a much higher resistance to alcohol than their usual kind, they could still get drunk.

It was as Sandra became aware of how sticky her skin felt that the memories of last night began to come back to her. Sure enough, she found a naked Alaara sleeping next to her, feeling equally as sticky. It was anyone's guess who's dried up cum was whose.

Unable to resist, Sandra gave one of Alaara's large breasts a lick and sucked gently on it. This was enough to wake Alaara from her sleep who simply smiled upon seeing her bondmate.

"Man, what did we do last night?" she groaned slightly as she became aware of how hung-over she felt.

"What didn't we do last night?" Sandra smiled naughtily.

There was a sudden third voice that joined them in the form of a groan. Alaara and Sandra's heads both whirled round to find the sleeping from of Kraan lying next to them. It was also now that Alaara and Sandra realized they weren't even in their own quarters... they were in Kraan's.

Kraan stirred and groaned again as he slowly woke up. He rubbed his head as he sat up.

"Oh yeah. Nearly forgot about you." Said Alaara.

Kraan was momentarily shocked when he saw the naked couple in his bed. Despite the shock however, he seemed to remain calm. Then a confident smile slowly crept onto his face. If anything he seemed quite pleased with himself.

"Well that was certainly unexpected." He said. Even he appeared to be somewhat hung-over as well.

"What, you didn't enjoy it?" Alaara teased, sitting up slightly while Sandra rolled onto her front.

"I didn't say that." Kraan smiled. His look however quickly turned serious. "It was just for fun though, right?"

"Of course. Nothing wrong with blowing off a bit of steam with a Krogan." Said Sandra.

"And you say I'm the horny one." Alaara laughed.

At that moment however, much to everyone's surprise the door opened and Hawk walked in.

"Hey, Kraan. I was wondering if... OH MY GOD!"

The sniper immediately threw his hand up to block the view. In fairness, it took more than just one hand.

"Hawk. How's it going?" Kraan asked casually.

The Krogan didn't even seem to care that he was fully exposed in front of Hawk. Not to mention that Alaara and Sandra were also nude and weren't making any attempt whatsoever to cover up.

Before anyone could say anything Leena then walked through the doorway.

"Has anyone seen..." as soon as she saw the sight however, she immediately had the same reaction as Hawk."Oh Keelah!"

"Can we help either of you with something?" Sandra asked, somewhat cross at the fact that everyone seemed to just be coming in without even knocking.

"I'm so... sorry." Hawk said in embarrassment, still trying to hide the view with his hand.

"Finding it hard to block the sight." Said Leena.

"Not like you'd miss it." Said Alaara, causing both Sandra and Kraan to chuckle.

And then to just add to the situation, Telrass walked in as well.

"Is something the matter...? OH!"

"Oh for fucks sake!" Kraan sighed.

"Do you see this?" Telrass asked crossly.

"No." Hawk replied.

"So... you three..."

"We had a lot to drink last night." Kraan simply said.

"God only knows how you'll be able to walk properly after..." Alaara said but Leena interrupted her.

"We'd... rather not hear the details... please." She quickly said.

"Well then, if you're quite finished staring please shut the door and don't disturb us again." Said Sandra sternly.

"Yes, errr sorry." Said Hawk as he immediately pushed everyone else out and shut the door.

"Thought I fixed the lock on the door. Sorry, you two." Kraan apologised.

"Don't be. I believe we may have blinded poor Hawk." Sandra chuckled, causing the others to laugh.

"Heh. Yeah, the look on his face." Kraan laughed.

"Tell me, love. Do we have anything planned for this morning?" Sandra asked, in an undeniably seductive way.

"Not that I can think of. I'd say we've got plenty of time for another round, if Kraan's up to it that is..." Alaara replied suggestively.

"You two are worse than a fertile female Krogan." Kraan sighed with a smile on his face.

* * *

Blade clashed against blade with a loud clang, sending sparks flying. Shadow breathed deeply as she kept herself relaxed as she thrust, parried, countered and blocked a combination of moves and attacks from her master.

The Commander mostly stuck to defending. This was after all a training exercise for Shadow, so it was mostly her attacking. Occasionally he would attack so that he made sure she kept her guard up though. It was no good going for an attack if you didn't have some kind of defence.

"How often must I tell you? Control my central line!" he said.

Shadow obliged and swung her left blade down, which the Commander side stepped. She then swung to the side with her right and the Commander side stepped this too.

"Good."

Shadow attacked with a thrust from both blades, but the Commander countered both. He then followed this with a kick which knocked Shadow onto her back. The Bounty Hunter though almost immediately leapt back onto her feet as though she hadn't felt a single thing and resumed her attack.

"You're holding your sword too tight..."

Before he could continue more, as he blocked another one of Shadow's attack, the force of his block knocked the sword right out of her hand. It spun in the air a few times before falling right into the Commander's hand.

"Now too lightly." He said.

Understanding that the fight was over, Shadow relaxed. It was as she did that the Commander couldn't help but notice how she had a new piece of Helldiver armour as part of her collection.

"Hmmm, a new one?" he asked with curiosity.

"Your training has served me well. It has awarded me many trophies." Shadow said as she sheathed her sword.

"Don't let your pursuit of trinkets cloud your reality." Said the Commander. "Remember what I taught you. If you're to succeed in combat against the best of the Helldivers, you must have fear, surprise and intimidation on your side. For if any one element is lacking, it would best for you to retreat. You must break them before you engage them."

He then gently handed Shadow's other sword back to her.

"Only then will you ensure victory, and have your trophy."

With a bow of her head Shadow accepted the sword and placed it back in her other sheath.

"Yes, master."

"Nevertheless, you've come a long way from the woman you once were." The Commander said admirably.

"I could never forget those days. After all, it was only the start of my new life..." said Shadow.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

The transport touched down and it occupants stepped out. Among them was a fairly fit looking woman with black hair and a cybernetic eye.

It had only been two days since the murder of Tyrany Azula's former CO. Already she was a wanted criminal. This part of the galaxy however was safe for her. The Alliance after all had no jurisdiction in the terminus systems, and Omega was the absolute perfect place to hide. Not even the Helldivers had a huge presence here. Some did occasionally come here, but very rarely, and only ever on business.

Immediately wanting to take her mind off everything that had recently happened to her, she made for the bar at Afterlife. She had to admit, the sight of all the dancers along with the loud music and dark lighting made her feel somewhat less stressed.

The Salarian bartender took notice of Tyrany as she sat at the bar. He tried not to stare at her glowing eye.

"Something strong." She said.

The bartender simply nodded and a few seconds later handed her a green drink which she immediately downed in less than a second.

"Another."

As the bartender handed her another drink, a nearby Turian seemed to take notice of Tyrany and walked up to her.

"What's a big girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked, trying to sound smooth.

"Go away. I'm not interested." Tyrany growled.

She reached for her drink again, but the Turian suddenly grabbed her arm.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, lady!"

Before he could continue however, Shadow suddenly drew one of her swords out with almost lightning speed and impaled him right on it.

"I'm not much of a talker." Tyranny growled in his ear before pushing him off and letting him fall to the ground.

With that, she went back to her drink. As she finished it however, one of the Asari waitresses caught her attention.

"Excuse me, miss. Compliments of the two at the back."

Tyrany look in the direction the waitress was indicating. A Batarian and an Asari were sitting in the corner. They appeared to be wearing some kind of merc armour that she was unfamiliar with.

The human beckoned Tyrany over, who reluctantly obliged. She kept herself ready though in case this turned into a fight.

"What do you want?" she asked, crossing her arms and making every effort to accentuate her broad shoulders.

There was a pause as the Batarian seemed to study her. It wasn't so surprising. At 5 foot 9 and with a decent amount of muscle on her, she was quite imposing after all.

"The name's Bolsk and this is Lazaar." He said, indicating to the Asari. "We're bounty hunters, and..."

"We have a problem." The Asari finished.

"Not with me I hope." Tyranny said, her right hand edging towards the handle of the sword on her left.

"You just killed one of our own." Bolsk said, indicating to the dead body of the Turian which was now being hauled away.

"Well you should've taught him some manners." Said Tyrany.

"No kidding. He was an asshole anyway. The problem is though, we need a full team for a job we're intending to do, and right now... you're our first choice." Lazar said.

"What makes you think I'm even capable?" Tyranny asked.

"You don't look like a rookie. You have a presence about you that suggests you're not to be messed with." Bolsk replied. "And besides, where did you get those weapons?"

"Stole them." Tyranny simply replied.

"Bounty hunter then?" Bolsk asked.

"No."

"Ever considered it? You certainly have the right... disposition."

"Never thought about it. Does it pay well?" Tyranny asked.

"Very well." Lazar replied.

"We have a job to do, and you owe us for killing our colleague." Said Bolsk, standing up from his seat. "Take his place and join us for this job."

"And if I refuse?" Tyranny inquired.

"We turn you over to the authorities."

"Omega has no authorities."

"No, but I imagine the authorities on other planets might be interested in you."

"I'd like to see you try."

Bolsk made to reach for his gun, but Tyrany stopped him.

"Fortunately, you won't have to. I will admit, I could use some credits."

"Very well then." Lazar said.

* * *

The job… well it ended up going smoother than any of the three could've hoped. Tyrany especially had practically shone when she'd been required to snipe several targets. She'd downed them in mere seconds before they'd even got a chance to try and find her.

They'd already been well paid for the job, plus a little extra due to their employer being so impressed and were celebrating with some drinks and also a pole dance from an Asari dancer.

Even Tyrany had to admit, she felt very happy with how things currently were. Much as she didn't want to admit it, there was something about these bounty hunters that she liked.

"I've got to admit, I had my doubts about you, but you sure proved me wrong." Said Bolsk.

"I aim to please." Tyrany said, drinking directly from one of the bottles in the table.

"Where'd you learn to shoot like that? I'm gonna guess ex-military." Lazar asked.

Tyrany hesitated for a moment before replying, but eventually decided to confide in these two.

"Alliance."

"Why'd you leave?" Lazar asked. "Was it something to do with that?"

She indicated to Tyrany's cybernetic eye as she asked her question.

"Compliments of my C.O actually. Caused an accident that framed me and gave me this. I got my own back." Tyrany replied, a slight bitterness in her voice.

"Well, you've certainly not let that training go to waste. Our... organization could use someone like you." Said Bolsk.

"What do you mean?" Tyrany asked, sounding slightly suspicious. "Thought we were only working together for this job."

"Lazaar and I are part of a guild of bounty hunters. Ever heard of the Black Hands?"

"A few stories here and there. In truth though I thought you were just a rumour."

"Oh we're very real. And we're offering you a chance to join us." Said Lazar.

"Well... that sounds like a really good offer." Said Tyrany.

Admittedly she was somewhat interested. This job had gone better than she'd expected, and further ones certainly could put her military training to good use. And of course it paid well. Perhaps this was her salvation.

"What will it involve?" she asked.

"More contracts than you could ever imagine, access to some of the best hunting gear money can buy, and you'll also work with some of the best killers and assassins in the galaxy. I assure you, you'll fit right in." said Lazar.

She failed to notice that her hand had settled in Tyrany's wrist. Tyrany herself **did** notice this, but she paid it no thought. Her mind was focusing on the proposal. This would be her new life from now on, and right now she was seeing little reason in refusing.

"Alright then. I'm in." she finally said.

"What's your name?" Bolsk asked.

"Azula. Tyrany Azula."

"And your codename?" Lazar asked, pouring herself another glass.

"I don't have one."

"You should. You earn a reputation better that way." Said Bolsk.

"The Shadow." Lazar suddenly said without hesitation.

"What?"

"You sniped every single one of our enemies without them ever seeing you. All they ever got was glimpses, like a shadow." Lazar explained.

"That… works I guess." Tyrany shrugged.

"Well then, a toast to our new member. To the shadow." Said Bolsk.

Everyone raised their glasses.

* * *

**2 YEARS LATER...**

The chambers of the Commander had more people in them at this very moment than they had ever done since their creation.

Bounty hunters, assassins and all other kinds of killers were gathered here as part of an initiation. The Commander had a job that seemed perfectly simple: kill a certain individual, more specifically, a high ranking Alliance general.

Sadly though, this job was proving far harder than they could've anticipated.

The Commander was not impressed by the overall turn out either. Almost every single person in this room was either a rookie, inexperienced, or lacked any discretion with their work. It seemed that any better bounty hunters found the pay too low, or the job not worth their time. The Commander had intended this in hopes of finding someone more unique.

He was not surprised when the latest two to accept the contract had returned with his money. They'd had the best hopes yet due to being a team, but it seemed that had not been enough. They too had failed.

"Gentlemen… welcome back." He said. Though he hid it well, there was frustration in his voice.

"We couldn't deliver." One of the mercs said.

"Here's all the money back. Every credit." Said the other.

The Commander slowly rose from his throne and walked down to ground level. He then gave a small nod to two of his bodyguards who were stood next to the mercs. The guards immediately forced the two mercs to their knees.

"So…" said the Commander. "My advisor tells me, that the elite mercenary team he recommended to me… that I graciously paid fifteen million to kill an Alliance General… couldn't deliver."

He then drew of his submachine guns. For the moment, he simply seemed to check it was loaded.

"We had a plan to kill the target..." one of the mercs tried to speak.

"I'm not finished." The Commander interrupted. "I've had my advisor replaced as a result. So what should I do about you?"

"Please, sir. Next time we'll know what to do…"

Before the merc could finish the Commander then shot him right in the head, blood splattering over part of his black coat.

"I'm thinking… there won't be a next time!" the Commander growled as he pointed his gun at the head of the other merc.

A shocked silence fell over the room as the many other mercs, bounty hunters and assassins waited for the Commander to pull the trigger.

The merc could not stop himself shaking from the shock of seeing his partner die, his partner's blood landing on his face, and the fact that he was staring down the barrel of the Commander's gun.

He closed his eyes and waited as he heard the Commander's finger slowly squeeze the trigger.

"I hear you have a job opening." Said a voice.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the source of the voice.

It seemed that one particular bounty hunter had stepped forward. A late arrival by the looks of things.

Shadow's attire was vastly different now. Her time in the Black Hands had served her well and she now wore better armour, including a helmet that hid her entire face. Even without the armour plating, she still looked as imposing and muscular as ever. Quite a few of the other candidates looked a little unnerved by her.

"Something like that." The Commander finally said in a casual manner.

"You're going to pay me double, and up front." Shadow said directly.

"Am I now?" The Commander asked, uncaringly raising his arm and shooting the merc from earlier behind his back as he spoke.

"And your target will be dead before dawn." Shadow finished.

"You got a lot of nerve making demands like that… especially to someone like me." Said the Commander.

Many whispers and murmurs began to flow around the room between the many other candidates. This message seemed pretty clear. This bounty hunter had forgotten her place and had asked too much.

"I like that." The Commander then said, causing everyone to fall silent in surprise.

The Commander took a moment to consider this. There was something different about this bounty hunter. All the others were novices or rookies at best. This one though had something of an aura about her. As though she had something they didn't. They also that she had so calmly made her demands and had not bothered to try and negotiate… that alone was enough to make her stand out.

But it would take more than words to impress the fallen Helldiver.

"Tell you what then. Prove to me that I'm not wasting my money on you. Prove that you're different from all these other… candidates. They fight you, and if you can beat them all within the next five minutes… Then we'll talk." He said.

Every other candidate cast cocky and confident looks at each to her. Some even chuckled and laughed at this. This one bounty hunter against all of them? Even if she somehow had some skill or experience they did not, there was no way she could beat them all. They outnumbered her 100 to 1.

They expected her to back down. To accept would be suicide… or insanity. The response they got from Shadow however wiped the smiles off their faces.

"Deal."

Was this woman serious? She was actually going to fight them all by herself?!

"You heard her then. She accepts the challenge. Kill her… and I'll triple the reward." Said the Commander, settling back into his throne.

That seemed to lighten the mood a bit. Almost immediately, Shadow was surrounded by every merc and assassin.

"Though we're gonna kill ya… gotta say, that's some good armour." One of them said confidently.

"Try not to get your blood on it when you're dead then. I've just had it cleaned." Said Shadow.

Now she herself readied for a fight. Several long seconds passed. Then…

"Begin!" the Commander said.

Dozens of the mercs all attacked at the same time. Shadow picked her targets wisely and went the three that were closest to her. She ducked under the the swing from one and then made her move. Jumping into the air, she kicked the one to her right, punched the one to her left, and then swung that punch into the one in front of her. All three fell to the ground, dazed and bruised.

Another merc tried to swing a wide punch at her, but she grabbed his arm and threw him to the floor. The merc realized too late what Shadow was going to do as she forced his arm out and then gave it a massively violent twist. The sound of a bone breaking could be clearly heard by everyone as the merc screamed in pain from his now broken arm.

"Jesus Christ! She broke his damn arm!" one of the mercs said.

That… kind of set the tone for the rest of the fight. Try as they might, every merc that attacked either got something on their body broken, or something they owned broken. Some even tried to use their weapons against her, only for Shadow to snatch them out of their hands and break them. One in particular even tried to shoot at her with his rifle but she simply used it bash him in the face which knocked him back and then, within less than a second, dismantled the entire gun into now useless pieces.

Shadow only just reacted in time as she ducked under the sudden attack from a merc behind her. She didn't quite see what he was holding, but it looked big. It was as she righted herself she now saw it was some kind of shield. Similar to a riot shield, but made of metal with a small glass window.

"Try and hit me now, bitch!" the merc said confidently.

What Shadow did next however took the merc completely by surprise that he barely had any time to process it. She grabbed the top of the shield with one hand and then lunged with her other. To the astonishment of everyone, she punched right through the shield's glass and her fist hit the merc in the face, causing him to stagger back and lose grip of the shield.

With the shield now hers, Shadow let the bottom hit the floor and, to even more astonishment from the mercs, kicked it with such force that it bent as though made of cardboard.

"She broke it! How the hell did she do that?!" one of them said.

"Okay, enough of this shit! There's no way she can dismantle our guns all at the same time." Another said.

Shadow immediately noticed as several of the mercs all raised their guns. It was indeed true, she could not dismantle all their guns at the same time. She wasn't' fast enough for that, and there was just too many of them.

But naturally, she was prepared for such an eventuality. Using her biotics she leapt high into the air, somersaulting as she did so. At the same time she also threw dozens of tiny devices, each one landing on the merc's guns.

Only too late did they notice the devices were beeping. The detonators all exploded one at a time destroying the guns, and taking out their users as well.

There were still plenty more mercs with useable guns though. Fortunately for Shadow however, one was close enough as she landed. Right as he attempted to fire, she grabbed the gun using her left. With her other arm placed just underneath were the mercs forearms were, she then forced the gun right down.

Just as before, there was a loud crack followed by a scream of pain as the merc's arms broke. In his desperation, his finger ended up squeezing the trigger. Shadow slowly maneuverered the gun just enough as it started firing, taking out several more mercs in mere seconds.

When the gun's clip was finally empty, Shadow finished with a kick that broke his neck.

It was down now to just ten.

In desperation, another merc attempted to fire at her, but she deployed her wrist grapple witch landed onto him and pulled him right into her uppercut which forced his head back with such that his neck also broke.

Another merc lunged at her with an almost insanely large combat knife but she countered the blow. Forcing the knife out to the side and away from her, she brought her free down right onto the blade. To the merc's horror and shock, it shattered.

"That was my favourite knife!"

The last word barely left his lips though before Shadow used the bit that remained of the blade to slit his neck. Right as she noticed one last wounded merc trying to reach for a pistol she threw the broken knife, which embedded itself right in his head. Death was instantaneous.

Shadow stood. All around her were the corpses of the 100 mercs she all just defeated single handed.

"Bravo." The Commander said, clapping slowly.

"I still have one minute and forty two seconds, if you have anyone else to play with." Said Shadow.

The Commander slowly rose from his throne. He then picked up the two money bags from earlier and threw them to Shadow.

"You got fifteen million now. The rest when you deliver... and perhaps we may even talk further business." He said.

The tone of his voice clearly stated that this subject was non-negotiable. Fortunately, Shadow found it acceptable.

* * *

Things changed dramatically in the next few hours. Shadow completed her mission, but before she returned she'd been intercepted by the Black Hands. Apparently, they had discovered the truth about the Commander and his terrorist organization, Hellspawn. They had been both shocked and angered by this and had informed Shadow that they intended to end the Commander's plan now before it ever came to pass.

Shadow had been rather reluctant to go along with this, but she had kept it to herself. Recent events of Black Hands exploits had left her somewhat doubtful. She had once though the Black Hands honourable, and without fault. But now… now she felt conflicted. She no longer felt the same. She no longer felt like she had a purpose.

As much as the bounty hunter didn't want to admit it, there had been something about that proving that had awakened something in her, as though she had found a new calling. A somewhat unsettling question began to plague her thoughts constantly, almost to the point of distraction.

Could it be that her destiny no longer lay with the Black Hands, but with this… Hellspawn instead?

The attack on the Commander's fortress went surprisingly smoother than the Black Hands had expected. They had been certain they would be facing an entire army, but they ended up only meeting resistance that, though a challenge, was hardly what they had originally heard about the vast army the Supreme Leader had at his command.

Bolsk sadly had not been lucky enough to make it this far, having fallen to the hands of a typical Hellspawn trooper. It was just Lazar and Shadow, who had been sent ahead to take the Commander down in his own throne room. Their orders were to kill him then and there, not to take him alive as they believed he was too dangerous. Shadow had bene so tempted to argue with this order, but could not quite bring herself to.

Any further thoughts on the matter however were put out of Shadow's thought as she and Lazar entered the Commander's throne room. The heavy creaking and groaning as the massive doors opened made them both somewhat nervous. Though Shadow had bene inside these chambers before, she had been a guest that time, not an intruder.

It seemed though as if the Commander had not made any attempt to employ countermeasures or contingencies, despite the danger. A grim though crossed Shadow's mind, and she could tell Lazar felt the same. Could it be that the Commander had known all along about this? Had he bene expecting them? Worse still, could this be a trap? Had the Commander deliberately held back the full extent of his forces, keeping them hidden until the time was right?

The Commander sat calmly on his throne, his bodyguards stood along the stairs leading up to it. Though they acknowledged the presence of the intruders, they did not yet take any immediate action. They simply remained where they were, awaiting the order from their master.

"So… you returned, and not alone I see." The fallen Helldiver finally said.

"It was not my choice to bring them here. They say they know your true purpose." Said Shadow, trying to sound respectful.

"He wants to purge the galaxy of non-humans. That alone is enough for us to take action." Said Lazar.

"What your friend says is true. Everything that has transpired has been at my command. My will is the destiny of lesser men." Said the Commander. "Before you decide to kill me here and now, I ask only that you listen first. I have something you need to hear, Shadow."

"Very well. You talk, I'll listen." Said Shadow.

"Are you sure about this, Tyrany?" Lazar asked nervously.

"Let him speak at the very least. For all we know, this could be important."

"Just be careful."

"I do not deny the information that you have found." The Commander said. "It is true, Hellspawn's purpose is to exterminate all non-human life. It is a disease to be purged, nothing more. Merely look at where we are now. We may have an embassy on the citadel, but the aliens still treat us like second class citizens. The Batarians enslave us like we're animals. True, the Helldivers and the Arkanes are willing to do something about it, but they do not go far enough. They should slaughter every last one. And most of all, let us not forget the First Contact war. They say neither side truly started it, but it is all a lie! The Turians started it, and for what? Simply because we were reactivating dormant mass relays. The Council were fools to interfere, as were the Alliance for agreeing to stand down. Those monsters should've all been slaughtered for the many of our kind they killed."

"And you think killing them makes you better than them?" Lazar asked with disgust.

"It doesn't matter to me what you think, Asari. I'm not talking to you anyway." Said the Commander, his gaze now falling directly on Shadow.

"What does this have to do with me? I'm not one of your game pieces, Commander." The bounty hunter said defiantly.

"No. But, you underestimate what that would make you if you were. At my side, you could be so much more than a simple bounty hunter. You've had doubts of late, haven't you?" the Commander inquired.

Shadow was rather taken aback by this.

"How do you…"

But the Commander interrupted her before she could finish.

"I know more than you can possibly comprehend, my dear." He said, an ever so slight smug tone in his voice. "You've had doubts about the sometimes questionable ways of the Black Hands. Your kills don't bring you the same satisfaction they used to. You seek something new, a greater purpose… one that I can offer. By my side, you could help me lead humanity into a new age, an epoch… of true peace and freedom."

"The Helldivers alone won't let you get that far." Said Lazar.

"That is why they are my first target." Said the Commander.

"You want to kill your own people?"

"They are not mine. Not anymore." The Commander said, his demonic voice now sounding a bit more serious, as though Lazar had touched a nerve with her question. "Once I was one of them, until their pathetic love of the aliens made them betray me. In my attempt to escape, my ship was shot down. I survived, but at a great cost. I only continue to wear this armour because it is the only thing in this galaxy capable of keeping me alive. When I look at myself, I see the very thing I've sworn to destroy, and that only fuels my anger and hatred of them."

Something about that made Shadow hesitate for a moment. She saw certain elements of herself in the Commander. He'd been betrayed just as she had, only his revenge wasn't as easy to satisfy as hers had been. She almost hated to admit it, but she felt some sympathy for him.

"Consider what I can offer now. Power, wealth, a place in my vision. I can teach you things you've never even dreamed of. I can make you into one of the greatest hunters in the galaxy, and your prey will be something far greater than any commoner. I can teach you to hunt the deadliest game… the Helldivers. Imagine it, you would be forever known for killing what up till now has bene known as the unkillable. Your life will have meaning again, you will help to free this galaxy from their poisonous beliefs that we must all be united. Together, we can create a true paradise for humanity." The Commander continued.

"What he offers is impossible. You can't kill Helldivers. They're invincible, and besides, they're right." Said Lazar.

"I lost my eye because of them." Said Shadow sternly.

"You lost your eye because your CO grew jealous of you possibly becoming one. That's hardly their fault."

"If they never existed, it might never have happened." The Commander said calmly. Lazar though could tell he was trying to turn Shadow against her with these words.

"There's no way we can know that." Lazar argued.

"It's the truth, and you know It." the Commander argued back.

"I've heard enough! It ends here, Commander. Shadow and I are putting an end to your insane dreams." Lazar shouted.

"Are you now? I'm not so sure." The Commander said so slowly and calmly it almost scared Lazar. "You assume your friend wants to stop me also…"

He turned his helmet to look directly to Shadow.

"…But maybe I agree with him." The bounty hunter finished.

"What?! Tyrany, you can't be serious!" Lazar said in surprise.

"I could explain it to you, but you'd never understand."

"After all we've been through… you'd forget all of that for this?" Lazar said in disbelief. "We're friends, partners…"

"You and the others were never my friends. Not truly. I only tolerated you because the Black Hands were the best place for me." Said Shadow coldly.

"No. That's not true, the woman I knew…"

"A façade, that's all it ever was."

"Then you'll die with him." Lazar said bitterly. "To think I saw you as a friend, to think I… I'm a fool for ever loving you!"

"Say what you will, I've made my choice." Said Shadow, her tone unchanged.

"And a well-made one." Said the Commander with approval. "And as my first command to you, I would like you to deal with this nuisance."

"Gladly." Shadow said, drawing her swords.

"You forget, Azula. I taught you everything you know." Said Lazar, her biotics flaring around her clenched fist and her other hand drawing a large combat knife.

"Not **everything** I know."

The fight lasted less than a minute. Lazar it seemed had been completely unprepared for some of Shadow's moves. Seemed she'd somehow found a way to hold back during the times they'd sparred together.

Lazar was no on her knees with both Shadow's dual blades at her throat, threatening to cut it like scissors.

"Twice now you have impressed me. It seems I have chosen my disciple well." Said the Commander. "Now… kill her."

"With respect, Commander. Might it not be more beneficial for all of us if we kept her and the others alive? They know much, enough that I am certain it would be a major benefit to us."

There was a temporary silence before the Commander spoke.

"A wise decision, Shadow. To simply kill the Black Hands would indeed be such a waste." He said. "Take her away."

Two of the Commander's bodyguard walked down and marched Lazar off.

"You'll regret this, Tyrany! I swear it! If not by my hand, then another's! One way or another, you'll pay for this betrayal!" the Asari yelled as the guards pushed her out of the room.

"My guards and troopers will deal with the rest and take them alive if possible. They may indeed prove useful." Said the Commander. "When we are finished with them though, I expect you to do what needs to be done."

"Of course." Said Shadow, bowing her head respectfully.

The Commander slowly rose from his throne and began to descend the stairs towards Shadow, who sunk down into a one kneed bow.

"You have proved your loyalty and your strength, and I name you my right hand. In fact, you are more than just that. I will honour my promise. In the years to come, as my student, I will teach you all I know so that one day you will carry a name that Helldiver will all quake in fear at the mention of. One day… you will become the Slayer of the Helldivers."

"Your trust shall not be misplaced, my master." Shadow said.

"Then rise... my apprentice."

**END OF FLASHBACK**

* * *

Hades crossed his arms as he observed the many Hellspawn troopers, engineers and others hard at work below. Thornton could not supply them with weapons directly because there was too much of a risk of unwanted attention being drawn. Instead he provided them with the necessary components to do so. Living on the planet Inferno also provided them with ideal access to many different valuable minerals which they were able to mine and either use in the construction of their weapons and technology or sell them to the highest bidder, even Thornton, if they needed the necessary funds. Combined also with the mysterious technology the Commander had got in exchange for the cleanser a few years back, they were well ahead of many other organizations, even Cerberus.

For a moment, Hades cast his eyes to the view behind him. The entire lighting of the place had temporarily gone bright and blue instead of the usual fiery red.

The main part of Hellspawn's fortress was built right into the side of one of inferno's many active volcanos in order for them to have direct access to the minerals. Because the volcano was always active however, the entire facility had to be protected by an energy shield which prevented the lava and rocks from damaging the facility.

Whenever a massive rock or piece of molten lava was spat out of the mouth of the volcano and landed on the shield it caused a bright glow as the shield deflected or disintegrated it.

The bright glow had become something of a unique sight for Hellspawn as they had grown so accustomed to the constant red glow from Inferno. It did actually happen very rarely. Though the volcano was active, its constant eruptions were hardly violent or cataclysmic. And even if it somehow became that dangerous, they were completely safe.

The glow in a way had come to be seen as a reminder to Hellspawn. A reminder that while they were indeed safe and comfortable inside, outside was anything but. Inferno was a barren wasteland riddled with fire, ash and dust. The very air of the planet was a poisonous fume. In fact, to attempt to be exposed to Inferno's atmosphere without any kind of breathing apparatus was tantamount to suicide. There was even a story that went around about how the very first person to land on this planet merely breathed in once and his lungs burst into flames.

While merely a fictitious story, it had been enough to make the message clear.

Hades watched the glow fade until the familiar fiery red returned. Something about the glow reminded him so much of a day many years ago. A day he would never forget. The day he became what he was.

Years ago it had been, yet at time it felt like it had only been yesterday…

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

The scientists were hard at work preparing the equipment, each one of them in anticipation of what was to come. Today they were going to attempt a brand new experiment that they hoped with give them new soldier like never before.

The Commander had donated a sample of his blood for study in hopes that somehow his scientists might find a way to reverse engineer the serum found in every Helldiver. If they could find some way to extract that serum and apply it to their own soldiers, the possibilities…

Elsa made sure all the final checks were being completed. They couldn't afford to get a single thing wrong or make any miscalculation.

"How are the levels?" she asked.

"100% ma'am." One of the scientists replied.

At that moment, the nearby doors opened and the Commander walked in accompanied by his guards with Shadow bringing up the rear. It had been some time now since she had first become the Commander's apprentice. She'd already made her first Helldiver kill and had a collected a fair few pieces of armour which she now wore.

Elsa and the others immediately took notice and stood to attention,

"Supreme Leader." She said, bowing her head. "All checks have been completed. We're ready to proceed."

At the same time she cast a look at Shadow who gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

"And the volunteer?" the Commander asked.

"We're merely waiting for you to give us the go." Elsa replied.

The Commander simply nodded. That was all they needed. Within just a few seconds, the doors opened again and the volunteer walked in, accompanied by two scientists.

George Dakar had been a soldier in Hellspawn's army for a long time. One of the best. He'd been promoted time and time again until he had reached the rank of Captain, and had become one of the Commander's top captains. Both his loyalty, strength and skill had been without fault, and now he was only proving that further by volunteering for this experiment. While it was true that Hellspawn did perform experiments on live subjects, when it came to humans they only ever used willing volunteers, apart from Helldivers though. In their opinion, human Helldivers had abandoned their humanity and so the rules did not apply to them.

As Dakar was led to the bed lying on and strapped in, the Commander knelt close to Elsa and lowered his voice.

"This is our 7th attempt at this, Elsa. What's more, this solder is one of my very best. I'm warning you now, if it fails like the others then you'd better hope at very least it gives you something that'll convince me to keep pursuing this." He said.

"I have every faith that this time we will get something, Supreme Leader. Maybe even our first success." Said Elsa, trying to remain calm despite that her heart was beating hard and fast with nervousness.

"I hope you are right."

The Commander took a step back and the protection shield raised itself. A precaution just in case.

A recording drone hovered near Elsa and activated. The scientist insisted on these events being recorded as the previous ones had so that they might hope to learn from previous mistakes.

"Is this on?" Elsa asked, checking the drone. "Dr Doctor Elsa Gunther. Friday, July 13th, 10:04am, super soldier evolution experiment number 6."

She then turned and indicated to Dakar.

"The man you see here has willingly volunteered for this experiment. He is fully prepared for whatever may happen, even if it means his death." She continued. "This serum has been extracted for the supreme leader's blood. We are going to test our newest stable on the subject. Various simulations show promising results, but we cannot know for certain until we attempt it. We began with injections into the bloodstream of the subject. Integration with DNA should cause immediate cellular and genetic change."

She then walked up close to Dakar.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"Just do it." Dakar nodded.

With his consent given, the scientists went to work. All the machines with syringes containing the serum slowly moved into place.

"Serum infusion in five… four… three… two… one.

Slowly, the needles edged closer and closer until they penetrated Dakar's skin. The soldier winced slightly as he felt them penetrate his skin. The serum was then slowly injected in until all vials were empty.

"Anything?" Elsa asked.

"All vitals are reading normal." One of the scientists replied.

"A slight… tingle." Said Dakar.

Elsa placed her hand supportingly on Dakar's arm. His hands then clenched into fists and he grit his teeth in pain. The heart beat monitors started to beep more rapidly as his heart rate elevated.

"Now all my muscles feel like they're cramping." He groaned.

"The serum's integrating with his DNA. No immediate change yet."

Dakar's heartbeat climbed even more. To everyone's shock he then screamed in agony and tried to struggle violently. He was already restrained, but they were simply designed to keep him in place, not to resist an actual struggle.

"Restrain him!" Elsa ordered immediately, trying to not panic.

They'd been afraid of this. It had been the same with the other 6 before. They'd all experienced massive pain as well.

Immediately, further restraints fell into place and locked tightly, keeping Dakar in place as he continued to writhe in pain. His struggles became even more violent and his screams grew louder… and then… silence fell. His struggles and screams stopped… as did his heart.

"No. No! No! No!" Elsa said in panic.

Immediately some of the scientists rushed up to Dakar and prepared a defribulator.

"Clear!"

They shocked him. Dakar's heart spiked for a split second, but then returned to nothing again.

"Again!" Elsa shouted.

"Clear!"

They shocked him again. Still nothing.

"FUCK! Again!"

"Clear!"

The final shock had slightly more charge in it and lasted a little longer.

Relief fell over everyone as the beeping from the heart monitor returned. Dakar remained unconscious, but his heart rate remained steady stable.

"He's still alive?" the Commander asked.

"It would seem so." Elsa panted in relief.

"I don't see any effects though." Said the Commander.

"I know. That's what worries me." Said Elsa nervously.

"He's regaining consciousness." One of the scientists said as Dakar stirred.

"Keep him restrained." The Commander ordered.

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

Dakar coughed slightly and looked around. Remembering where he was and what had happened, his attention turned to Elsa and the Commander.

"Did it work?" he asked.

"We don't know. We're not even sure how you survived where everyone else died." Elsa replied, running scans as she spoke. "Everything seems normal. That's a shame. I would've thought the serum would've triggered."

"Is it even in him?" the Commander asked.

"Yes... but for some reason it's not activating." Elsa said. "It looks like his immune system is fighting it. It's also resisting the traces of your blood."

"So this was all a failure?" Dakar asked in disappointment.

"Not necessarily. I certainly will be able to use this to hopefully perfect the procedure next time. At the very least this time, we didn't lose a subject. But for now, it looks like we didn't get the desired goal." Elsa replied. "But then, perhaps it might just be a matter of patience. For all we know something unexpected could happen within the next few days."

"If you require me to stay for more tests then so be it. I volunteered for this, I'll damn well so it through to the end."

* * *

A few days passed. Still no significant change. However Elsa had said that she was seeing a lot of unusual activity going in his blood stream. His cell structure was also changing. Elsa didn't know what it was changing into, but she suspected it was as though it was preparing itself for something. It was the unknown of what it was preparing for that scared her.

Recently however, that had changed. This morning when Elsa had come to check up on him he'd told her that he'd woken up with an extreme pain all over.

"Everything seems the same as it was yesterday. Are you sure about this?" Elsa asked as she finished running a scan.

"I wouldn't lie, doc. It feels like every bone and muscle in my body is being eaten away. Just breathing hurts." Dakar groaned.

Elsa could tell wasn't joking and decided at the very least to try and relieve the pain. She took a syringe from nearby and lined the needle up with a nerve on his arm.

"This won't get rid of the pain completely, but it'll hopefully ease it a bit." She said.

When she tried to put the needle in however she encountered some resistance. She applied a bit more pressure but it still didn't' penetrate his skin.

"Hmm. Odd. I don't remember your skin being this thick." She said.

Finally the needle broke through and she injected the contents of the syringe. Dakar's breathing seemed to improve in a few seconds and he stopped gritting his teeth.

"Feel a bit better?" Elsa asked.

"A little." Dakar replied.

It was as Elsa withdrew the needle however that something very unexpected happened. As the needle came out, attached to it was a flake of skin.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

"You just... shed some of your skin." Elsa said in shock.

"What really worries me is that didn't even hurt." Said Dakar, now sounding concerned.

"Are you feeling any itching?" Elsa asked.

"Well I have to admit; now that that's happened I am starting to feel a bit itchy all over. What the hell is happening to me, doc?" Dakar asked, starting to panic.

"I don't know. I just hope this isn't your structure breaking down." Elsa replied. "I need to inform the Supreme Leader. He'll want to know about this. I promise I won't be long."

She disappeared through the door but suddenly came back for a brief moment.

"Oh, and try not peel anymore skin off. We've no idea if this is a bad thing or not." She added for leaving, for real this time.

Dakar simply sat where he has. He attempted to give his arm a tiny scratch in hopes of reliving the itching in some way, but even the gentlest touch seemed to scrape off more skin flakes.

Sighing with frustration, he laid back on his bed and tried to take his mind off it. He barely lasted more than a minute before he was suddenly hit with an immense amount of pain and his hand flew to his left chest.

"Agh! My heart!" he cried.

His heart felt as though it was swelling and threatening to burst. He tried to reach for the button used to call Elsa but the pain was just too much. Instead, he ended up falling off his bed and onto his knees.

He could only continue groaning in pain, his fingers scratching and clawing at the ground as the pain continued. Something was definitely happening to him on the inside. He also noticed at this moment that more skin was falling off on its own.

At that moment, Elsa and the Commander arrived. They were both shocked to find Hades on his knees and several patches of skin shredding themselves from his body like tissue paper.

"What the hell..." Dakar tried to say, but he was interrupted by another sharp sting of pain.

This time it was different. Suddenly everything felt very tight as though his muscles and skin were threatening to tear apart. But why? What was happening to him? Cracks and tears began to form on his skin and more and more of it began to peel away.

"He's shedding all his skin. But why?" Elsa said.

Neither she nor the Commander dared not approach Dakar out of uncertainty.

Finally, Dakar couldn't' take it anymore. The pain seemed to be the worst on his back and it simply felt like it was holding something back. He reached up and tore off hospital gown he'd been wearing and then reached up to the stretching and tearing skin on his back.

"No wait!" Elsa yelled realizing what Dakar was about to do.

Dakar grabbed at the skin and ripped it right off. Elsa half expected to need to avert her gaze any minute. However, it ended up being quite the opposite. Instead of seeing muscle and blood all over the place where Dakar had torn the skin from she saw more skin, fresh, perfectly healthy, but something about it looked like it was much harder and tougher than human skin.

And then it happened. All remaining skin that Dakar was shedding either burst open or fell of completely. It was now that Elsa finally noticed why this was happening. He was getting bigger. His arms were expanding like balloons and his limbs were also growing in turn. All the muscles could clearly be seen changing under his skin. The rest of his clothes tore off, unable to contain the size.

Both Elsa and the Commander stood rooted to the spot in surprise and shock as Dakar grew to over 3 metres and his muscle mass grew to insane sizes. Veins throbbed as they expanded underneath the skin and his body fat percentage became so low it made the muscles look all the more massive as they bulged.

"Gott im Himmel!" Elsa said, sounding like she was going to faint any moment.

Finally it stopped, Dakar was left panting having just endured his somewhat painful transformation.

"Unexpected." Said the Commander calmly, sounding unaffected by what he had just seen, or the fact that this man was now larger than him.

"I don't know how this is possible. They were meant to be like you. Not... like this."

"I don't know why... but that felt surprisingly good." Dakar panted, admiring his now massive and bulging arms, the veins pushing out from under the skin so much that they looked ready to burst.

"Glad to see you're still in there at least." Said the Commander, walking up to Dakar's face that was now even bigger than his helmet. He then turned to Elsa. "Is there any way we can replicate this?"

"I wish I had an answer, Supreme Leader. But I've no idea how this happened. After all, he's the only survivor of the experiments and I don't even know where to begin in finding out how it made him like this." Elsa replied, still in shock.

"All this strength and power... it's amazing!" said Dakar, flexing his new muscles and admiring how tall he was now.

"Never forget who gave it to you though." The Commander said seriously.

"I won't, Supreme Leader. If you'll still have me, I will serve you until my last breath." Dakar said as he sunk down to one knee and lowered his head.

"I shall hold you to that." Said the Commander. "Clothe him and have him put through thorough tests and examinations. I want to know the full limit of his capabilities."

"Yes, Supreme Leader." Said Elsa. She no longer sounded in shock. In fact she now sounded like she was embarrassed.

It didn't' take the Commander long to notice where the woman was looking, despite that she kept trying to avert her gaze. Due to all his clothes during the growth, Dakar was fully exposed, and the growth had occurred everywhere. Even…

"And stop staring at it, Elsa." the Commander added with a sigh.

"I..."

"I'm not blind in this thing thanks to you."

"Sorry, Supreme Leader. It's just... hard to resist staring."

"Then resist."

The Commander left, leaving Elsa blushing as she looked back at Dakar who had a suggestive smile on his face.

"Just book me in for another session if you want a proper examination."

* * *

**1 YEAR LATER...**

Much time had passed since Dakar's drastic change. Since then he had made even more of a name for himself. He now went by the codename Hades. The very mention of the name made the other Hellspawn troopers shudder. They'd all heard what the now massive giant was capable of. Though they were glad he was on their side, it didn't' stop them from fearing him.

Despite the best efforts of Elsa and the scientists, they had been unable to repeat what happened to Hades. All attempts had either resulted in nothing happening whatsoever, or the death of a subject. Six more tires had been attempted before the Commander had been forced to shut the project down. No progress at all had been made, and they had gotten no closer to perfecting the Helldiver serum either.

Hades stood before the Commander, Shadow, Elsa, the Commander's elite guard and several other Hellspawn troopers surrounding him.

His outfit comprised of combat gear specially made for his size along with a suit of armour. Most plates covered his main limbs like they would a Helldiver's. His helmet had a makeshift skull on it combined with a breathing mask in addition to several ammo pouches adorning the armour and forearm mounted assault rifles with blades on his elbows. The Hellspawn logo could clearly be seen on his chest as well.

"Time and time again you've had the chance to try and turn on me. Yet here you stand, bowing before and still acknowledging me as your leader." Said the Commander.

"There is no question that you are still the stronger one, Commander. I would sooner die than betray you. All I ever want is to serve you, so that you may win." Said Hades, bowing his head and sinking down onto one knee.

"I can no longer doubt your loyalty, and you have proven yourself one of our most indestructible fighters. Thus, I have decided to make you more than just a mere soldier like any other." The Commander continued. "Hellspawn needs a second leader, someone to command my forces on the field if I am unable. Someone to command and control my armies with me, someone to fight at my side and perhaps even take my place when I am gone."

Hades expected to see a look of uneasiness on Shadow's face but she seemed completely calm. To be fair though it had already been made clear that while she was the Commander's apprentice it had never been the intent for her to succeed him. She was training under him to hunt Helldivers and help Hellspawn's cause.

Content that he didn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back, Hades lowered his head again.

"Hades, I name you my second in command. Rise." The Commander said.

Hades obeyed and rose back up to his full height.

"I will not fail you, Supreme Leader."

"I hope so."

 **END OF** **FLASHBACK**

* * *

"All is in order I assume?"

Hades was pulled back to reality as he watched Shadow approach.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Hades simply replied. He noted however the Commander was not present. "Where is he?"

"Trojan's returned from the mission and she brining her findings to him person." Shadow simply replied.

"He'll be a while then?" Hades asked.

"You underestimate the connection between those two." Said Shadow. "It's impossible to question how loyal she is. Hell, she cut out her tongue with her own hands to prove it."

"You remember the day she became a cyborg?" Hades asked.

"Trying not to." Shadow replied uncomfortably.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

The steady beat of a heart monitor could be heard in the background along with the shallow breathing of the woman lying in the bed.

Sonya's body was covered in bandages to the point where she could be mistaken for an Egyptian mummy. If that wasn't bad enough she was missing all but 1 of her limbs and her breathing sounded almost dead like.

Long story short she'd attempted to hack into a highly secure base. Though she had succeeded, she'd been compromised by a Cerberus spy who'd triggered the alert and triggered enough explosives to level the entire building.

Frankly, it was a miracle that she'd survived. Her injuries though had bene even more severe than the Commander's. In fact, Elsa had just confided to other heads of Hellspawn that there was nothing more she and the medics could do. Slowly but surely, she was dying.

The Commander was very reluctant to lose such a loyal servant and great hacker and had asked Elsa to tell him truthfully if there really was no other way to keep her alive in some form. After a brief bit hesitance, Elsa had finally replied that there was one way, but it was not something done lightly. The decision had to fall to Sonya herself.

The Commander, Elsa and Shadow stood around the bed and waited until Sonya acknowledged them. Despite being pumped full of painkillers she was still in bad condition.

"Tell her what you told us, Elsa." The Commander said.

Elsa sighed and began explaining.

"I can't lie to you, Sonya. You injuries… they're too much for your body to handle. Even with full life support, there's nothing more we can do." She said. "We reckon you have 3 weeks left at the very most. I'm sorry."

In her state, and having also cut out her tongue prior to these events, Sonya was barely capable of making any sound. She did however manage that all three could tell was a sad sigh.

"Our good doctor has told me however that there is another option." Said the Commander.

"As you probably know we've been doing hundreds of experiments into cybernetics, reverse engineering those we've recovered from dead Helldivers. The results have proved incredibly promising to the point where… well, I believe we could essentially make a new body for you… a machine body." Elsa explained. "As I said before however, your injuries are too much for your body to handle, so it is not as simple as attaching mechanical limbs to you. The long and short of it is that the only thing of yours that this new body will have… is your brain."

Sonya didn't make a sound, though what could be seen of her eyes through the bandages did indicate she was taken aback by this.

"However we wouldn't dare force this fate upon you." Said the Commander. "It goes against our rules regarding our own kind. That is why we leave it up to you to decide. It would be a difficult choice for anyone, and the experience… well, I'm sure you can guess."

Sonya simply nodded.

"It is your choice, Sonya. If you refuse and would prefer to die then I promise I will do all I can to make your last days as comfortable as possible." Said Elsa. "If you accept, there'll be no going back. Not to mention also the fact that even if you're willing, we've no idea if your mind will truly adapt to the new experience. As willing and prepared as you are, there's still every chance your brain could go into shock over the experience or it might reject the cybernetics.

Sonya reached for a nearby keyboard and began typing. In her state, this was her only method of communication. The Commander had also insisted that she use it. Technically it didn't break her vow of silence, but it did still go against the basic principal.

"May I have some time to decide?" the message read.

"Of course." The Commander replied. "Take as much time as you need to decide. Do not take too long though, as Elsa said, you don't have long."

The three left, leaving the hacker to ponder this big choice. Accept her fate and pass away in comfort, or live in a new body. True she wanted to live on, but would it be worth it? If she accepted, she would have to give up so much. As advanced as the body would be Sonya still knew that it rob her of almost everything that made her human. Touch, smell, taste, they'd all be gone. And as Elsa had also said, she could still very well be unprepared for the massive change. Was losing all that worth it? Was Hellspawn worth it? Was the Commander…

She stopped herself though at that point. She had come this far, she taken a vow of silence to prove her loyalty, she had cut out her own tongue to make sure she never broke that vow, and now she had sacrificed so much for the fallen Helldiver.

In that split second, her mind had been made up. She knew this was what she wanted. She looked at the clock and note dhow late it was. Admittedly, she did feel tired and in her condition she just wanted to rest. Closing her eyes, she let herself relax and slowly sink into sleep. She would inform everyone of her decision tomorrow.

* * *

Despite having a rather depressing dream, her sleep was deep and undisturbed. The second she woke up she was able to have the others come to see her. They had been surprised by her decision and had asked her quite a few times if she really was 100% certain about this. Time and time again though she had replied saying that she was sure. Finally it sank in and they could tell her mind was made up.

For the next two and a half weeks she was put through several simulations in an attempt to help prepare her brain for the procedure and also hopefully avoid her rejecting it or going into shock. Despite her health declining greatly in that time, she made great progress which pleased the Commander and Elsa.

The end of the third week soon came. The time that Elsa had predicted her death. And she had not been wrong. Sonya felt on the verge of death, barely holding on to consciousness. Elsa had assured her though it would be over soon. The time had come. All simulations that they could do with her consciously had been completed. It was now, or never.

Elsa, the Commander and Shadow all stood around the bed. Sonya would be given a special concoction that for all intents and purposes would essentially kill her. The brain of a human however still remained functioning for a short time after death. It wasn't much, but it would be enough for the doctors to remove the brain and get it stabilized.

"Everything is in place." Said Elsa. "Is there… anything you want to say?"

Sonya simply shook her head and gave a slight groan. Despite the painkillers and everything else, she just wanted it to be over. Even though she knew this would probably be the last thing she ever physically felt, she was prepared.

Understanding the hacker's response, Elsa nodded to the doctors ready to inject the liquid. Very gently they switched her life support to slowly pump the liquid into her. Almost immediately, Sonya felt it begin to take effect. She was slipping. Remaining clam, she took one last deep breath… and closed her eyes.

A minute or two passed before the doctors were certain Sonya was no longer conscious. Immediately, they had her rushed into the operating room. They only had around 10 minutes.

Shadow and the Commander stood on a balcony overlooking the whole thing. The Commander remained almost as still as a statue as he watched the entire thing, not moving, not making any sounds, half the time it didn't even look like he was breathing.

Shadow on the other hand was doing all she could to remain still. She had no idea why she had to watch this. Even the mere sounds of the drills and tools alone creeped her out. Then came the sound of bone crunching as Sonya's scalp and skull cap were removed. That alone was going to haunt. But as bad as those had been, it was nothing compared to what came next. The cap came off and Elsa advised everyone to hold their breath. She had not been joking. The second the smell reached Shadow's nostrils, she feared she might be sick any moment, and then there was the fact that she could see the entire thing. Shadow ultimately had to accept that this was probably a test of the Commander's to try and harden her will even more.

The operation went cleanly and smoothly in just under five minutes and the brain was already inside a special jar being fed all the necessary liquids and oxygen it needed. The spinal cord had been kept, but they would trim down what they didn't need later now that they could operate safely while the brain was maintained.

Both the Commander and Elsa observed the brain as it was held in place in the bubbling liquid. Shadow was absent having excused herself when she'd seen the brain in the jar. It hadn't taken a genius to tell that the sight of that had been the last straw. It was anyone's guess how she'd be in the morning.

"Is she conscious of anything?" the Commander asked.

"No." Elsa simply replied. "And I won't dare change that until she's connected up."

The Commander gave an understanding nod and also cast a look to the mechanical body that the scientists were finishing assembling next to the tank.

"How long until you begin further virtual simulations?" he asked.

"We start tomorrow." Elsa replied. "I will keep you updated on our progress."

* * *

All virtual simulations went according to plan and although they indicated that Sonya's brain would handle the computer integration just fine, everyone was still nervous, especially Elsa. If they had miscalculated, if they had missed out one single thing, they'd be in a world of trouble. And then there was the unknown. As had bene stated before, there was still every possibility that the brain might reject the machine and go into shock. They had managed to induce certain brainwaves to help further ease the brain into the new changes, but only activation would tell them for certain.

The Commander and Shadow arrived on time. The brain was still in the jar, but was now wired internally to a computer that was externally wired to the body. This was a precaution in case anything went wrong so that the body could be terminated in any way without harming the brain in case something went wrong. If everything went right after this, then they would connect the brain into the body directly where it would stay permanently.

"Everything is ready, Supreme Leader." Elsa said as she bowed her head.

"Then there is no point delaying. Wake her up."

Several long silent seconds passed. No immediate physical activity occurred, but the scanners certainly showed a lot of neural activity. Sonya was now conscious again after so long. The video output also showed what she was seeing. At the moment, the computer merged with her brain was performing diagnostics on both itself and the body.

Once all tests finally completed, everyone waited for Sonya to make her very first physical move. After several tense seconds it came in the form of finger movements.

The arms soon followed, along with the other arm as she brought them into her peripheral vision.

"Status?" Elsa asked nervously.

"Brain activity seems calm for the moment." One of the scientists replied.

After a few seconds of examining her arms, Sonya slowly lifted the body up from its resting place. She seemed to wobble slightly as her new clawed feet touched the floor. She managed to not topple herself though and eventually steadied. Slowly she looked down and examined herself fully.

Finally she looked back at the others. Her gaze fell directly on the Commander. The visual feed even showed that she'd zoomed in on him. Despite Elsa advising against it, the Commander slowly approached her.

"Welcome back… Trojan." He said.

Trojan slowly sank into a low bow.

That appeared to be enough for everyone to relax. Elsa even let out a sigh of relief.

And so it was. On that day, Sonya ceased to exist. From that day forward, there was only Trojan, the woman and the machine.

 **END OF** **FLASHBACK**

* * *

Shadow shuddered slightly as she thought back to the operation. Occasionally she still had nightmares about that. Despite that though she and Trojan had respect for one another and while not necessarily friends had a fine partnership with each other.

At that moment however she was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the approaching footsteps of the Commander, Trojan following behind him.

"Supreme Leader." Hades said as he and Shadow both bowed their heads.

"Master."

"Trojan's findings have proven fruitful. It would seem the myths surrounding the artifact are more than just myth." The Commander said.

"It's real?" Shadow asked in surprise.

Up till now, she'd feared her master had been chasing a fairy tale ever since he'd heard the stories. But if Trojan had found firm enigmatic proof…

"Indeed. And as of now, I intend for us to find it."

* * *

Friday finally came. Austin had to admit he was both excited to see what surprise Nyarra had for him, and at the same time a little nervous about seeing her again given how long it had been.

Nyarra owned a penthouse on the top floor of a massive apartment building, which she also owned. She'd bought it not too long after becoming the boss of the strip club she'd once worked for. She'd even offered some of her dancers the apartments in the building due to them previously having bad accommodation.

Austin exited the elevator and walked up to the door. Since he and Nyarra were seeing each other so much, she'd given him access to her room. Thus, he didn't have to knock or input an access code.

"Nyarra?"

He didn't get a response. The whole penthouse appeared to be dark. He did however notice that there was something on the floor. It was a note. He picked it up and moved it closer so he could read it.

_IN THE BATHROOM_

Austin looked to where the bathroom was and saw that the door was open and what was undeniably steam was pouring out.

He calmly walked in, a slight smile on his face.

Inside the bathroom was a massive hot tub, almost as large as a swimming pool. The lights were dimmed enough that stuff could still be seen, but dark enough that it really added to the atmosphere.

Sure enough, floating in the water on her back and completely nude was Nyarra. The sight of her wet naked skin and massive breasts half submerged in the water turned Austin on a lot. Already he could feel himself hardening under his trousers.

He was going to announce himself, but he didn't need to. The door suddenly shut behind him and Nyarra slowly rose to her feet, hot water dripping and running down her body. She made no attempt to cover up which was hardly surprising.

"Hello, Shepard. It's been too long. I've missed you." She said, smiling slightly and speaking with a clam and soothing tone. The bath had clearly made her relaxed.

"Well then, let's make up for lost time." Austin smiled calmly. He could not deny though how impatient her felt. He'd missed the Asari's body so much that fantasies and dreams had almost started to not cut it.

"Indeed. Why don't you take off all that armour and come join me?" Nyarra asked seductively as she placed her elbows on the edges of the hot tub, making sure her breasts were still on full display and pushed up slightly so that it really accentuated them.

Austin opened up his armour and stepped out. He then unzipped is suit mesh and removed his boxers as it sealed back up.

Nyarra licked her lips hungrily as she finally gazed upon the sight she had longed been craving, her favourite cock in the galaxy! It was already semi hard and it made Nyarra shudder slightly in pleasure as she imagined sucking it or the shaft rock hard and moving back and forth out of her azure.

The Asari extended out her hand and Austin took it as he slowly walked down the steps and into the tub. The Helldiver let out a relaxing sigh as the warm water washed over his skin.

The two brought their mouths together and kissed as they moved their hands over each other bodies. Austin gently kneading Nyarra's ass and Nyarra brushing her fingers over Austin's hard muscles, shuddering slightly and letting a moan escape her lips as her fingers touched his eight abs.

"This your big surprise then? It's hardly the first time we've had a bath together." Austin asked once they'd finally separated.

"Hardly. The bath's just an added extra." Nyarra replied as her hand slowly drifted lower. "This is the surprise."

Austin heard faint footsteps all around him. Due to the dimmed lights, he couldn't see much. Only the lights from the hot tub provided any illumination. For a moment, Austin worried this wasn't what Nyarra had referred too. Before he ended up panicking however, the source of the footsteps was soon revealed.

Out of the darkness stepped all of Nyarra's dancers, surrounding the hot tub in a circle. They were all in various different stages of undress. Some already nude, some still in underwear, some still partly clothed and even one or two still fully clothed.

It took Austin a moment before he realized what Nyarra was proposing. At first he thought they were an audience, but then he realized they were here for more than just a show.

"You cannot be serious." He said, almost in disbelief.

"I'm afraid I am." Nyarra smiled, trying not to laugh at Austin's reaction. "Ever since we've been seeing each other they've become very interested in finding out what makes you so special. Eventually I found out, and suggested they find out... together. With the place closed for the weekend, it's meant be their weakened off, but I've all given them major overtime and they're more than happy to do some extra work. So, as of now you've got me, the entire weekend, and every single one of my willing girls... all to yourself."

Austin was almost speechless. Was this really happening? He was being offered a massive Harem of hot and horny Asari who were all willing and wanting to have sex with him. For dozens of other males, this would be something they could barely dream of. For a short while, Austin felt sure this was a dream, but in the end he finally accepted this really was happening.

"Honestly... I don't deserve you." He said, trying to remain calm.

"You say the sweetest things." Nyarra smiled as her hand found his cock and slowly stroked it to full hardness until its drumming head poked out of the water and touched her lower stomach.

The other Asari gave aroused giggles and whispers to each other. Some even licked their lips seductively like Nyarra had done earlier and a few touched themselves and moaned arousingly as they caught their first sight of the cock they'd heard a great deal about. The cock that they'd heard brought their boss pleasure each time. The cock that belonged to a hugely muscular and handsome man that was among one of the best soldiers in the galaxy and probably had the sexual endurance of a Krogan.

"Showtime, girls. Let's make this man happy, and let's have some fun." Said Nyarra.

Any Asari that still had some form of clothing on immediately shed it. Within just a few seconds, Austin and Nyarra were surrounded by nothing but blue and purple nude forms. The Asari gently stepped into the tub and surrounded Austin and Nyarra, who moved to the edge so that Austin would have something to lye against later on.

For now they simply stood. Austin's hand went to Nyarra's breasts and he started to gently massage them while Nyarra gave his cock much harder strokes. The other Asari meanwhile took up various positions around them. Some of then went down on their knees around them and slowly began touching and stroking Nyarra's legs and ass. Some remained standing and moved their hands seductively touched Nyarra's stomach or shoulders. That combined with the firm and gentle touching that Austin was giving her tits made Alaara sigh in pleasure.

One of the bolder dancers gave Nyarra's ass cheeks and gentle slap. Nyarra looked at the Asari with a surprised, but pleased look. For a moment the Asari worried she'd gone too far. But when Nyarra made a movement with her head, telling her to carry on, she resumed her erotic touching. Some Asari even licked at Nyarra's skin using their tongues.

Whilst Nyarra was getting plenty of attention, Austin it seemed was getting even more. He had more Asari attending to him than Nyarra did. Most of them were just groping at his muscles and admiring the hardness, though some of them were paying attention to his lower regions. He kept their hands off his cock while their boss continued her long strokes, but two of them did pay attention to his balls. Mostly just giving them gentle licks and a slight suck. Nothing too extreme... yet.

He also became aware that one had pressed her body right into his back and was moaning erotically into his ear as she grinded her pussy against his backside. Nyarra it seemed was getting the same from another Asari, only this one was gently stroking Nyarra's pussy as well.

Nyarra once again drew Austin into a kiss, this time using her tongue a bit more vigoursly. Returning the kiss, Austin let his hands drop from Nyarra's breasts and let two of her dancers tend to them with their mouths. Two more dancers meanwhile took hold of his hands and brought them down to their dripping Azure. Austin immediately got the message and gently eased a finger from each hand inside. A blissful moan greeted each ear. Nyarra also did something similar. While her right hand continued to stroke the Helldiver's shaft, her free hand went to one of the dancers who took it in her hand and touched it to her face as though it were silk. The dancer moaned as she kissed and licked the hand. Even took some of the fingers into her mouth and sucked gently on them.

Austin could feel more hands on his body, most still groping at muscle, but a few hands stroking his skin firmly. He could also feel the Asari planning kisses and licks all over. He then felt two mouths from either side touch his cock. Nyarra continued her strokes, but she now left a spot untouched which her dancers tended to.

Austin also suddenly became aware that one of them was moving a finger rather close to his asshole.

"Much as I love the attention, ladies. I'd rather you didn't." He said with a calm, but firm, tone.

The dancers got the message and did not go further.

"Don't worry, girls. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to give your asses plenty of attention." Said Nyarra, causing the others to giggle slightly. "Clearly you're all getting impatient, so go ahead. His cock's all yours. I meanwhile will get his tongue primed for later."

The Asari let go of Austin's cock and allowed the other dancers to give it their full attention. Austin was caught off guard as hands and mouths surrounded his cock, almost making it vanish from sight.

Nyarra meanwhile gently forced Austin down onto his back until his head rested against the edge of the hot tub. She then gently opened up her legs and spread her pussy lips, hovering it just a few inches from Austin's face.

"I'm so horny." She moaned. "I want your tongue deep inside."

Austin placed his hands on Nyarra's ass cheeks and gently pushed her close until his tongue touched her folds. Nyarra moaned loudly as the Helldiver's tongue began exploring her core. One of her dancers silenced her with a kiss while firmly groping her large tits and tweaking her nipples. Austin also felt another dancer kissing and massaging Nyarra's ass cheeks.

Austin couldn't help but moan slightly into Nyarra's pussy as the dancers continued to assault his cock with their mouths. One of them had even latched her mouth around the head and was sucking hungrily.

Nyarra continued to moan as Austin drove his tongue deeper and deeper, lapping at her pussy juices. One of her hands ruffled his long hair while the other reached round to touch her ass and she began to finger her asshole.

Austin heard the moans get louder. His own moans increased as well as the sucking and strokes on his cock got stronger and stronger.

"Oh goddess!" Nyarra panted, finally forcing her azure away from Austin's mouth, despite the Helldiver's strength pushing against her ass. "Need to recover. Don't want it to be over too quickly."

"Right then, who wants the first ride?" Austin asked.

The dancers' attention was caught by this and they temporarily stopped tending to his shaft. Nyarra, who still needed a moment, simply waited for someone to volunteer first. It took a while before they all realized she was waiting for them, but once they did, they then cast looks at one another. Eventually, one particular dancer who had tits almost as large as Nyarra's stood up. She remained silent, but she was giving Austin the most hungry and seductive look he'd ever seen. She looked so aroused and was panting so hard, it almost scared him.

While the other dancers continued with their touching and stroking of both Austin's skin, and the dancer's as she slowly squatted down until she was mere inches from the Helldivers cock, Nyarra beckoned another dancer over to her and began kissing with her.

The dancer standing over Austin took his raging penis in her hand, and very slowly eased it into her pussy. At first, she only moaned in pleasure due to the girth, but as the length slowly disappeared into her, she suddenly screamed so loud it made everyone jump.

"Oh by the fucking goddess! He's almost as big as a Krogan. How does he have enough blood for this monster?!" she moaned.

"Being a Helldiver has its advantages." Austin smiled as he put his hands on the dancer's hips.

"Please can we keep him, boss?" another dancer asked innocently.

Nyarra temporarily broke her kiss and simply replied with a smile.

The dancer on top of Austin began slowly moving herself up and down, the mere movement of the Helldiver's shaft causing her to be almost gasping for breath. She felt the bumps of the veins drumming hard as Austin also started to thrust gently.

The other dancers continued to move their hands over various different bodies. Once again, most of them were still touching Austin. They'd now changed their hand strokes. Instead they were now scraping their nails firmly, but very gently over his muscles. One even went so far as to gently bite his right chest. Another dancer gently placed herself between Austin and the edge of the tub so that his head now rested on her pilowy breasts and she played with his hear and trimmed stubble. She even occasionally whispered some incredibly dirty porn talk in his. She'd even whisper how she couldn't wait for her turn and how she looked forward to Austin fucking her in the ass.

The pace increased and eventually the dancer began to ride Austin hard, her large tits bouncing with each thrust and her nails digging into his traps.

"Damn, you know how to ride!" Austin groaned in pleasure.

" _Look at the sight of these titties bouncing!"_ the dancer behind him whispered into his ear, licking his ear lobe with her ear ever so slightly. " _You like watching these tits bounce, Shepard?! You like it?!"_

Austin moaned in pleasure through gritted teeth, the dirty talk only making him more horny and aggressive.

The moans from the dancer on top of him soon turned to gaps and screams of pleasure. She soon took her hands away from his shoulders and instead leant back, resting her hands on his legs and threw her head back as she rode him even harder.

Seeing those large wet naked breasts bounce very close to him eventually became too much for Austin. He moved his hands up from her hips and grasped a tit in each hand and brought them to his mouth.

As Austin sucked and licked at her hard nipples, the dancer extended out her tongue to the dancer in front of her who was behind Austin. Both their tongues touched and licked at each other as the dancer riding Austin stroked her hands other the other's crest.

"Oh I knew I wanted to fuck you hard as soon as I saw you!" the dancer moaned.

The dancer that had been kissing Nyarra broke the kiss and spoke.

"I once spied on him when he was being given a tittyfuck by the boss. I've never masturbated so hard."

The others couldn't help but giggle. A few even shuddered in pleasure as they shared this fantasy. Nyarra even gave the ass the dancer a firm slap, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Naughty naughty. Now I've gotta spank that pretty little butt of yours!"

The dancer simply smiled as Nyarra bent the dancer over the edge of the hot tub and began spanking her so hard her ass cheeks turned red.

The dancer on top of Austin broke her tongue play with the other dancer and straightened up. Austin knew the look on her face. Her orgasm was coming.

" _Fuck her! She can't last much longer! Fuck her so hard she passes out from coming!"_ the Asari behind him whispered into his ear. She even tried to snake her tongue into his ear.

This made Austin thrust so aggressively that it finally proved too much. The dancer on top of him screamed as her wet pussy squirted onto his front, covering his eight pack with her juices. Some of the dancers even managed to catch it in their mouths while others just licked it off Austin.

The dancer took several deep breaths. She looked so drained it was any wonder she was still conscious.

"By the goddess!" she panted.

"My turn!" said the dancer that Nyarra had been spanking.

For a moment Nyarra gave her a look, as if questioning why she felt that it should be her turn.

"Please, boss. I want his cock between my titties. Ever since I saw you do it to him I've been fantasizing about me being in your place. I want him to fuck my boobs!" the dancer pleaded.

Nyarra simply smiled and motioned for the dancer to go right ahead.

As if she'd been waiting her whole life for this moment, the dancer pushed through all the others and got down in front of Austin, hypnotised by his wet rock hard cock, beating with each heart beat.

She took her tits in each hand and put the shaft between them. She then pushed them together, trapping the cock in the gap between. Slowly, she started to move up and down. Once of the dancers also scooped water steaming water from the hot tub into her hands and gently poured it on Austin's cock and the dancer's tits. Austin felt himself get fully hard again as he gazed upon the wet naked flesh before him.

The speed of her movements increased and she began to bob up and down at a much faster rate. Austin this time did not thrust in time and simply let himself enjoy the pleasure. He moved his head up to look directly into the eyes of the Asari who's tits he was still resting against, and who was still playing with his hair as well. She enjoyed the fact that it wasn't wet yet and found that it felt surprisingly nice to the touch. Clearly this Helldiver took care of his hair, despite its length.

The Asari smiled down at him and leant her head down to kiss him. He accepted it without hesitation and let the Asari's mouth latch onto his. Nyarra meanwhile got down on her knees and began licking at his eight pack, mostly just so that she had something to do while her Helldiver was being given a tit fuck. That didn't stop her though from enjoying how hard they felt and how she couldn't stop herself from touching her pussy as she did so and even allowing other dancers to tend to her tits and ass.

Suddenly, Austin felt an orgasm literally come out of nowhere without warning. He tried his best to hold it in, but in the end he couldn't.

He manged to break the kiss with the dancer above him, but before he even had a chance to warn to the other, it happened.

"Oh shi..."

His cock spasmed and shot a long and thick rope of cum right into the face of the dancer who'd been tending to it. Caught off guard, the dancer moved herself away and let the Helldiver's cock fall out of the gap in her tits. Several more cumshots followed which the other dancers quickly tried to catch by opening their mouths or trying to move their faces so that the cum landed on it. Most caught some strands in their mouths whilst the rest got it on their faces which some of the others attempted to lick off. The last few strands landed on Austin's abs right in front of Nyarra's face.

"Sorry. That rather came out of nowhere." Austin panted.

"Don't be. Nothing wrong with an early shower of cum." Nyarra smiled as she licked up the cum that had landed on his body. "And besides, I'm sure there'll be far more where that came from."

She then reached down and gently cupped his balls. Austin saw the faintest sight of a biotic field before he felt an odd feeling. It was not painful, but at the same time it did feel weird. He then felt a tiny bit of swelling before it finally subsided altogether.

"What did you do?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Just a little refill. Can't have those balls of your going dry on us." Nyarra replied as she took his cock in her hand again and stroked it as well as gripping it firmly to keep it from softening.

"No, you're right. The galaxy would implode." Austin smiled amusingly.

The other dancers giggled and chuckled at this.

"Told you he'd make us laugh." Nyarra smiled.

"I don't know about you and the others boss, but I feel a strong need to dance for him and shake my ass in his face." Said the dancer that Austin still had his head leant against.

"I like your thinking." Said Nyarra.

Getting the message, Austin moved his head up and let the Asari stand up. Two more dancers got on their knees and took her place. Austin leant his head back down, this time on their knees. The back of his head, along with a fair bit of his long hair became submerged in the water. Above him, he could see the underside of two sets of breasts along with the smiling faces of the dancers they belonged to.

He then noticed the other dancer who had stood over him and was now beginning to dance, moving her hips in time with some music that had started playing in the background. Whilst the two Asari he was leant against, treated him to a little waterfalls how by scoping water up in their hands and letting it fall down their bodies, the dancer above kept moving her ass so close to his face he could've kissed it.

Nyarra admired the show while she continued to giver Austin's cock some long hard strokes whilst also allowing some of the other dancers to use their mouths on it.

"That's it, babe! Work that big butt of yours!" she grinned pleasurably as she manged to land a quick kiss on the dancer's behind as it continued to move in an almost hypnotic way.

Nyarra couldn't help but be amused at Austin's smile and stare. She leant down and gave him a kiss too and allowing him to suckle on one of her tits for a bit before letting his attention return to the show.

The dancing Asari now brought her hands down to her ass cheeks and spread them, revealing her Azure and asshole. Both shown from arousal, sweat and water.

" _You see this pretty little butt hole?! You're going to put your cock in it. She's gonna bounce that ass of hers on top of you. You're going to fuck her ass so hard she'll never walk the same again."_ Nyarra whispered in such an erotic moan it made Austin exhale with a small moan of pleasure.

As if she had somehow heard Nyarra's words, the dancer repositioned herself and slowly squatted down until her ass was mere centimetres from his drumming cockhead. The others dancers moved back to give her room and Nyarra allowed the dancer to take hold of it.

The dancer kept the shaft steady and made sure it was properly lined up. Very slowly, she began to lower herself down onto it. Just before the cock was about to enter however, Austin suddenly grabbed her hips with both hands and forced her right down with such force that the Asari screamed in both pain and shock.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah! Fuck!"

"Unexpected…" said Nyarra, with a slight bit of surprise. "…but I love it."

The dancer on top took a few moments to get over the shock before she finally started to move. She groaned a little while she got used to the pain. Some encouragement was got was a groan from Austin who was also adapting to the dancer's tightness. He'd been prepared for this, but the experience had still come as a surprise to him. What's more, some of the dancers were giving his balls extra attention which was only adding to his pleasure.

Eventually, the dancers speed increased and she began to bounce on the Helldiver's cock, her ass cheeks bouncing and rippling with each movement. Austin was also thrusting in time with her movements.

"Mmmm. That is so hot! Watching that ass bounce!" Nyarra moaned.

Austin had moved one of his hands to her Azure and was fingering it in time with the thrusts while his other hand was firmly massaging a breast from another dancer who was panting erotically due to how sensitive her chest was.

At the same time, Nyarra was also giving the Asari's ass a hard slap each time she came down. She smiled and let out a light exhale of pleasure each time she heard a moan from the Asari with each slap.

She was also allowing two more dancers to suckle on her large breasts. Though this brought her a great deal of additional pleasure, it was times like these that she wished she was able to lactate. Adding a flow of Asari milk to this orgy would've made this even more memorable. Still, that didn't stop the Asari from panting heavily from the almost overwhelming pleasure. Nyarra continued to occasionally spank the dancer until finally she decided to take this one step further.

"Turn around babe." She said.

The dancer obeyed and turned herself around, still keeping Austin's cock inside herself. The dancer to the Helldiver's left meanwhile got on top and slowly lowered her pussy onto his face. Same as last time Austin once again dove his tongue deep into the Asari's folds, savouring the taste and flavour of her juices while continuing to piston in and out of the other Asari's ass.

"Oh goddess, his tongue's amazing!" the dancer sitting on his face moaned.

Nyarra meanwhile put her hands of the back of the heads of both Asari and gently encouraged them to move closer and until they kissed each other while also groping each other's breasts.

Austin continued to lick and thrust as he felt the various hands continuing to roman his body and grope at his muscles along with the various tongue licking at his skin and tracing his scars. The room was filled with moans so loud it was anybody's guess how anyone else in the building wasn't hearing this. Austin closed his eyes and felt himself relax, the moans like music to his ears, the sweet taste of Azure juice in his mouth, and his cock engulfed in a tight firm ass. He'd never felt so much pleasure, nor felt so at peace in all his life. How had he gotten so lucky to have something like this? He was just a simple soldier, and yet he'd become acquainted with an Asari that shared his occasional love of physical sex and had now gifted him with an entire harem of Asari that had willingly agreed to this. What's more, he'd be doing this for the entire weekend, and at the rate things were going it seemed like it was going to be nonstop with very little rest. A part of him was still thinking that this might not be real, or that it was a dream. In the end however, these thoughts failed to change his mind at all. He didn't' care anymore if this was real or not. He was going to make the most of it.

And then he felt it. This time he had a warning as he began to feel it build. He manged to push the Asari on top of him up just enough that his mouth detached from her azure and he was able to speak.

"I'm gonna cum." He said, taking a few deep breathes.

"Oh, you're gonna cum?!" one of the dancers asked in an encouraging manner.

Nyarra and the dancers didn't need to be told twice. The one that had been sitting on his face got off and the one he'd been fucking in the ass also got off. Along with Nyarra they all got down on their knees as Austin stood up and began stroking his cock, aiming it in their general direction as they held their tits in their hands and opened their mouths, excitedly anticipating a far larger cumshot than before.

"Cum for us, Shepard! We want you to shoot your cum all over our faces! Paint our titties with your seed!" Nyarra moaned alongside so many of the others that were practically begging him to cum.

Austin upped the pace of his strokes, his hand almost becoming a blur. And finally… it happened.

"FUCK!"

Dozens of long streams of cum shot out of his cock, landing on quite a few of the Asari's face and breasts. Many of them laughed and giggled in amazement as they watched so much cum being emptied from the Helldiver's balls. Austin aimed more to the left so that the others he'd left out got their fair share too. They too had the same reaction and expressions as the cum landed on their bodies. A few lucky ones even caught some strands in their mouths.

As if somehow sensing he was about fire his final cumshot, Nyarra moved a bit closer and made sure aimed at her face as he continued to stroke his cock and moan in pleasure. Sure enough, one final large shot of cum came out of his cock and landed right on Nyarra's face and tits. She immediately rubbed it all over as though it were oil and allowed the dancers to lick her so that they'd enjoy the taste.

Feeling exhausted, Austin sat down and leant against the edge. After the dancers had finished with her, Nyarra lay on top of him and put her head against as his chest as he put his arm around her.

The dancer also did the same and relaxed against the edge, enjoying the warmth of the water and caressing each other gently. Some even talking amongst themselves about how amazing that had been and how they were looking forward to doing it the entire weekend.

"That was incredible." Austin panted, wiping some sweat from his forehead.

"I knew you would like it." Nyarra smiled, continuing to give his softening cock some gentle strokes.

"Makes me wonder if I'll ever be satisfied by anything less ever again." Said Austin

"You say that as if it were a bad thing that I've spoiled other women for you."

"Well when you put it that way..."

"Just imagine it. Us retired and living somewhere peaceful and isolated..." said Nyarra, beginning to get a bit lost in her fantasy. "And with all of them as well."

Some of the dancers gave interested looks and a fair few even giggled to one another. One even gave a gasp of pleasant surprise. Austin couldn't help but consider it. This alone had been heaven for him, but spending his entire life with this harem of Asari... It seemed almost too good to be possible. But that didn't stop his mind from imagining several fantasies.

"It'd be heaven. Nothing but a harem of Asari all to yourself every day of every week." Said Nyarra, clearly becoming more aroused the more she thought about it.

"It almost sounds too good to be true." Austin admitted.

"After tonight... I wouldn't say so. You've already got us for the weekend, why not life? It's clear my girls like you, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to spend their lives with us. Perhaps even willing to bear your children."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Said Austin quickly.

The thought of having children... well, it just seemed way too early to even consider that. He wasn't even sure what his relationship with Nyarra even was. He didn't know for certain if he loved her enough for that, or even at all. But perhaps...

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just horny." Said Nyarra, her words snapping Austin back to reality. "And it looks like I'm not the only one."

The dancers it seemed had got their breath back and had started touching themselves again as they crawled towards Austin and Nyarra. Some even looked hornier than Nyarra was. It was clear to Austin that they were ready for more, and admittedly so was he. He gave a happy sigh as he wondered how he was possibly going to survive an entire weekend of endless sex with a harem of these horny Asari.

"I love Asari." He smiled as Nyarra kissed him again.

* * *

**Figured it was about time Shepard got some again after so long. I'm actually very pleased with how that turned out. I felt for certain that whole sex scene was gonna be hard, but actually writing it went rather smoothly. Although to be fair I did complete that bit first while I was still on holiday which probably helped.**

**As some might have guessed from the earlier bit, the next chapter will concern the artifact that the Commander mentioned. I think its fair to say in fact that the chapter will be very Indiana Jones based. More or less it'll be a race against the bad guys to find something long lost.**

**Oh and since the next one's unlikely to be this month, I'll say in advance...**

**Happy Christmas! :)**


	22. Chapter 22, The Lost Power

**Been a while, but I'm back with another chapter. And just in time for the release of Andromeda it seems.**

**Like** **I said last time, this chapter's very Indiana Jones based so expect to see a lot of familiar things.**

* * *

**YEAR 7, The Gathering Darkness**

**2179: 7 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**8 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"This point in our lives proved to an important part of our story. This was when things would start to change... for the worst. Our darkest hour was on the horizon…"_

* * *

**Chapter 22**

**The Lost Power**

The day started normally. Everyone was up going about their business. Kraan and Troy were in the Kitchen preparing their breakfast.

Whilst Troy was pouring milk for his own breakfast, Kraan opened the fridge. When he did however he began to growl angrily.

"What is it?" Troy asked cautiously.

"Some dead man took all the peanut butter!" Kraan replied angrily.

"I'm sure you can live a while without it." Troy sighed.

Kraan simply groaned in frustration.

"We out of peanut butter?" Dash asked as he suddenly walked in.

"If you had anything to do with this…" Kraan growled, holding in spoon in Dash's manner in a threatening way.

"You're threatening me with a spoon?" Dash asked in confusion.

* * *

Sandra was simply sat on the sofa reading a book whilst Alaara was, rather surprisingly, meditating. She was hovering a few feet of the ground using her biotics while in a traditional meditating pose.

It had been something she'd recently been trying in order to improve her concentration and try and help her be able to maintain certain biotics for longer periods. So far, things had gone pretty well.

Both however where suddenly interrupted when they heard a loud noise come from the kitchen.

"OW!"

That unfortunately broke Alaara's concentration and she fell… right into Sandra's lap.

"Sorry, love." She apologised.

"Don't be. It's not every day a sexy beauty like you lands in my lap." Sandra simply smiled, planting a kiss on her bondmate's forehead.

"Has anyone seen Shepard today?" Telrass asked as she emerged from her room, already in her full outfit.

"He's down in the gym with Leena, sparring… I think." Sandra replied.

* * *

Sure enough, both Austin and Leena were down in the gym fighting each other in the boxing ring. They weren't boxing though. They were just using basic unarmed hand to hand combat, along with what martial arts skills they knew.

Despite that Leena was bigger and stronger than Austin, he was still holding his own. The Quarian grunted as Austin managed to knock her down.

"Glad you suggested we do this. Been too long since we had a good fight." He panted with a smile.

"Too long, like your hair." Leena said, just as eager about her whole thing as her commander was.

The fight continued for several more minutes as both opponents exchanged punches and blocks. Ultimately though, neither opponent seemed to have the upper hand. Despite Leena's size and strength, Austin had speed on his side. Not to mention also he was a much calmer fighter compared to Leena who was far more aggressive.

Eventually it got to the point where the two became tired and exhausted from it all and felt that they'd done enough.

"Call it a draw?" Leena panted.

Austin nodded and the two shook hands. He suspected Leena might try something as soon as they did, but as it turned out she didn't.

It was as they were getting a drink that their omni tools suddenly lit up. The two quickly walked upstairs.

"Suit up, everyone. Apparently the council wants to see us in person." Austin said, addressing everyone.

* * *

The meeting with the Council was similar to how all previous ones usually were. For the Council to want to see them in person though… that indicated that this was serious.

"Alpha, thank you for coming." Said Tarnack. "We apologise for this being on such short notice, but this recent development has made it necessary."

"Two days ago, a message was intercepted on a channel known to be used by Hellspawn." Said another councillor.

"Over the past few years, they've been rounding up teams of archaeologists and having them searching multiple planets for old artefacts. For some reason, the Commander's suddenly become obsessed with this." Said Spartan.

"We've been unable to decode much of what we intercepted. From what we have though, it reveals something rather interesting." Said Tarnack.

The message was mostly complete static but a few tiny bits were audible enough to understand.

" _Lost Power... proceeding… Acquire expert… Carla Storm."_

"What do they mean by lost power?" Dash asked.

"Long before our time, perhaps even before the Protheans, it is said that an unknown race possessed a power source of some kind unlike any we have today. They were the most advanced of their kind with it, but they sought to use it as a weapon of war. In doing so, its power proved too great to control and it is said to have led to the destruction of an entire star cluster." Spartan explained.

"And I thought this universe only had one big bang." Said Leena.

"It was originally believed that power source was consumed in the destruction, however another tale tells of another civilization who found a way to contain the power source. They deemed it too dangerous for any to use and are said to have hidden it away in hopes that it would forever remain lost." Tarnack continued.

"It's just a story though. Why would Hellspawn be chasing a fairy tale?" Sandra asked.

"There have been dozens or archaeologists who have done great research on the many stories regarding this lost power. Apparently, a recent discovery was made which suggests that the story is actually true." another councillor replied.

The hologram of a stone tablet was then projected between the council and Alpha. Written on it was an unusual language that Alpha had never seen before. Most of the top right portion of the tablet was also missing.

"This stone carving was uncovered by an excavation team some months ago. Hellspawn I'm afraid have already stolen it, but full scans had already been made by then."

"How do we know it tells of the Power Source?" Alaara asked.

"Because it matches the language that first told this tale." One of the councillors replied. "We're unable to read it of course, but there are those in the galaxy that can."

"And you believe Hellspawn will be going after them?" Austin asked.

"Indeed." replied Spartan. "There's one especially we know they're after from the message."

A new hologram replaced the one of the tablet now showing a young woman. She looked early to mid-20's with black hair only ever so slightly longer than Austin's, expect hers was parted in the middle rather than off to the right. Her facial features also seemed to confirm she was Korean.

"This is Dr Carla Storm. She's spent many years of her life researching the power source. She's one of the few who believe the story may actually be real and has found many great findings in her time. It is said also that she can read the language written on this tablet." Spartan explained.

"If that's the case, then why don't we just get her to look at it?" Leena asked.

"There's the catch. She went into hiding some time ago after Hellspawn began collecting archaeologists. She probably realized what they were up to." A councillor replied.

"And unfortunately, we think they may have found her. If this power source is indeed real, then it cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands." Said Tarnack. "We want you to find Dr Storm and hopefully persuade her to help us find the power source, only so that we might keep it from falling into Hellspawn's hands."

"Any idea where we start?"

"Xun has been hard at work on that. She believes Dr Storm now resides somewhere in this sector." Said Spartan as a holo map appeared. "The only further lead we have is a close friend of her, Chloe Strangford."

"In that case, we'll leave immediately."

Their search took them to the slums of a city on somewhat remote planet (which had no consequence to the actual story)

According to Xun's Intel, Chloe Strangford ran a shop known for selling and also buying rather odd artefacts and other such items. Most would consider it an antique shop, though some of the items in there did look… questionable.

"So what's the plan?" Dash asked.

"Leave it to me. This requires smooth talk and the art of deception." Said Troy confidently as he walked to the shop. At the same time, he activated a disguise looking like a professional businessman.

"Shame he hasn't got either." Hawk joked, causing everyone to snigger slightly

"I heard that!" Troy yelled.

* * *

The shop was… strange. A glass case nearby held a withered hand (which rather worriedly reminded Troy of Shagowroth), a stone slab with alien hieroglyphics depicting rather disturbing scenes, a large rock with carvings on it that looked more like some kind of evil mask of devilish face, and another stone carving with what looked like some kind of squid or cuttlefish. Evil looking masks stared down from the walls and some old, but rather dangerous and lethal looking weapons were in display cases. Troy doubted if any of this was actually real, but the general atmosphere of the place still gave him the creeps. In some ways it felt like he was in a museum showcasing artefacts from a savage and cannibalistic tribe.

The shop's owner, Chloe Strangford was sat behind the counter. She was a 5 foot 7 inch American women with long hair that had its ends dyed orange with one single long orange streak on the front right. She also wore glasses and was dressed in a punk looking outfit.

"Can I help you with something, sir?" she asked, sounding a little intrigued by the presence of her new customer.

"These are some interesting pieces you have." Said Troy modestly.

"It's surprising what some people are willing to sell." Chloe simply said.

"Anyway, I'm looking for a friend of mine. I'd heard she was around these parts." Said Troy. "Name's Carla Storm."

There was a momentary silence before Chloe eventually spoke.

"Can't say I've heard of her."

Troy turned his back for a moment as he examined an odd alien like painting.

"Well she mentioned you, I believe. Chloe, isn't it? Chloe Stragnfor…"

He was interrupted however as he turned to face Chloe, only to find her holding a gun right in his face.

Normally Troy wouldn't' be afraid of something like that, but the gun was at point blank range. This close… it could actually break through his helmet. What's more, that pistol was a very advanced model. Whatever money Chloe was earning from this business, she's used it well.

"Get… out… of my shop." She ordered.

"Now now, miss. There's no need for…"

Once again however Chloe interrupted him by firing the gun at angle that it only just missed him and instead hit the wall somewhere.

"I said get out. We're closed." She said.

Troy could tell that if tried to say anything more he'd just make the situation worse so he left. As the door shut behind him, Chloe engaged all the locks and sealed the shutters.

"Well done, Troy. We're all very impressed." Said Dash sarcastically.

Troy simply groaned and disengaged his disguise.

"I really hate that boy." He mumbled.

* * *

Chloe began turning the lights out. In her hands was an old fashioned oil lamp. As she did however, she suddenly became aware of footsteps on the balcony right above her. She looked up to find an armoured figure looking down on her.

"Good evening, Miss Strangford." Said Shadow.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave, miss. Store's closed." Said Chloe. This time though she was a bit more nervous.

"Oh I'm not here for your wares."

"What do you want?"

"The same thing that Frenchman wanted earlier. Clearly you do indeed know Dr Storm?"

Chloe remained silent for a moment. She cautiously placed the oil lamp on a nearby table.

"Even if I do, I don't know where she is now."

She suddenly heard more footsteps around her. Several Hellspawn troopers, and also Trojan slowly appeared out of the darkness.

"Perhaps I wasn't clear the first time." Said Shadow, suddenly jumping down from the balcony and landing close to Chloe. "Why don't you tell me where Storm is right now?"

"Listen, I don't know what kind of people you're used to dealing with. But nobody tells me what to do in my place." Chloe said bravely.

"Well then, let me show you what I am used to."

Chloe drew her gun again, but Shadow immediately snatched it right out of the woman's hand. Two Hellspawn troopers seized Chloe by the arms and forced her onto her knees as Shadow swiftly dismantled the gun, now rendering it useless.

"Don't bother pointing a gun at someone unless you intend to pull the trigger." She said.

Chloe struggled in vain but was unable to break free of the troopers grip.

"Get off me!"

She immediately stopped struggling however when Trojan's hand suddenly transformed into a buzz saw which began spinning dangerously close to her face.

"Wait! Wait! I can be reasonable." She said in panic.

"You had your chance." Said Shadow.

"You don't need that." Said Chloe, trying to move her face as far away from the saw as possible. "Wait! I'll tell you!"

"Yes… I know you will."

Trojan's saw slowly edged closer and closer to Chloe's face, spinning fast enough to be a blur now. It came within mere millimetres of her face before a sudden shot hit the saw, destroying it.

Everyone looked in the direction the shot had come from to find all of Alpha, their guns pointed right at them.

"Let her go, Azula!" Austin ordered.

Using the surprise of the troopers to her advantage, Chloe managed to break free of their grip and ran for cover.

"Kill them!" Shadow yelled.

The entire store turned into an all-out massive gunfight.

"So far I've dropped more than you have." said Kraan.

"Don't get used to it, Kraan." Ventra said as he fired another arrow which took out another trooper.

"Hey, I'm fighting here!" Dash complained.

"Fight there!" said Kraan, grabbing Dash by the arm.

"Don't even think it!" Dash warned.

But Kraan didn't listen and simply threw Dash who landed right at Shadow's feet. The Helldiver Slayer smiled under her helmet and drew one of her super armour piercing pistols.

"I've been waiting for a shot at you, big mouth." She said eagerly.

"How sweet of you." Said Dash, slowly getting up onto his feet. "But first, I must apologise."

"For what?" Shadow asked a smug sigh.

Unknown to her however, Dash was slowly reaching for something strapped to his belt.

"For this."

In a blindingly fast motion, he suddenly swung up with something in his hand. There was a thick piece of rope extending out of his arm which had a solid, hand sized metal ball on the end.

The ball whacked Shadow's gun right out of her hand. The Slayer was left in momentary shock as she lost her grip but she overcame it and drew one of her knifes. As she attempted to thrust however, Dash avoided the strike and then swung upwards, his monkey fist like weapon smashing Shadow right in the chin. It was only thanks to her helmet that she didn't suffer any broken bones. The force of it though was still enough to make her stagger back as Dash pressed the attack.

"Credit where it's due, I never would've have thought of that." Troy admitted as he observed some of the fight.

"You know Dash. Always different." Hawk shrugged, sniping another trooper in the process.

Chloe meanwhile had surprised everyone/ Rather than cowering, she was actually fighting back having managed to get another one of her guns. Thankfully for Alpha she seemed to be on their side and was only attacking Hellspawn. One unfortunate soldier in particular was getting the crap kicked out of him by her.

"Get out of my shop, you wankers!" she yelled.

As Dash continuously swung at Shadow he suddenly hit the antique oil lamp that Chloe had been using earlier, sending it flying. It spun in the air a few times and then smashed right into Kraan's back. The impact caused it to shatter and the oil spilled everywhere. Worse still, the flame ignited all of the oil. Kraan's back was now completely on fire.

Troy suddenly noticed this with alarm.

"Kraan, you're on fire!"

The Krogan remained calm despite this. To be fair, why should he panic? He couldn't feel the fire and his armour protected him from it. He was in no danger of burning to death.

Dash on the other hand seemed to somehow forget that and started to panic. He immediately grabbed a nearby piece of cloth and attempted to put the fire out.

"Hang on, buddy! I'll put you out! I'll put you…"

However he stopped as soon as he noticed that the cloth was on fire as well. Screaming fright, he threw the cloth away only for it land amongst a pile of old scrolls which immediately caught fire. Then fire then spread in just a matter seconds until the entire shop was now on fire.

"Fuck! Dash!" Sandra said in annoyance.

"SHIT! MY SHOP!" Chloe yelled.

Shadow took notice of this. Despite the mission even she knew how dangerous this was. The whole shop was on fire and looked like it was going to come down any minute. Worse still she'd suddenly spotted a ruptured pipe. She did not want to risk that being a gas pipe.

"All troopers fall back!" she ordered.

Alpha and Chloe soon noticed this too and tried to do the same. The door had unfortunately been blocked by falling debris during the fight and the fire and they didn't' have time to clear it, so they got out though the window. As Kraan tried to get out however… he got stuck. Try as he might, Kraan couldn't push himself free.

"Not again!" he yelled, still trying to push himself free.

Worse still Alaara and Chloe were still inside, now trapped thanks to Kraan. With little to no time left, Alaara was forced to do something. Something that she knew would put Kraan in a very bad mood.

"Sorry about this, big boy." She said with regret as she grabbed Chloe and charged up her biotic Dash.

It didn't take Kraan long to guess what was going to happen.

"Oh fuck."

It all happened in a split second. As the entire shop exploded in a massive fireball, Kraan was sent flying with Alaara and Chloe close behind. The Krogan crashed into a nearby wall near where everyone else had gathered. Both his hands flew to his quad in pain.

"OW!"

"Wow! What an exit! Right through a brick wall!" Dash said in amazement.

Chloe looked at her now destroyed and burning shop with sadness. Everything she'd ever had, and now it was all gone.

"Miss Strangford, I'm sorry about your shop. But we can't stay here." Said Alaara.

"Yes, you're right." Chloe sighed. "Lead on. I'll follow."

* * *

Everyone took a deep breath, finally able to relax, as they sat back down on their seats in the gunship.

"Well that all happened very quickly. Surprising since Helldivers aren't known for their speed." Telrass said.

"Hey! Speak for yourself, Telrass!" said Dash.

"Except for you, Dash."

"Damn right. Fastest Helldiver alive."

"Which might explain why you can't get a date?"

"Yeah…" Dash though soon realized what the Turian had just said. "Hey!"

Everyone else chuckled slightly before Austin stood up and walked over to Chloe, who so far had remained silent as the grave. She looked up at him though and finally spoke.

"You saved my life. I guess I owe you that much." She sad.

"Then perhaps you can repay us. We need to find Carla Storm. It's urgent. We wouldn't ask otherwise. I understand you want to protect your friend, but those people are after her too and they'll stop at nothing until they find her. They may even very well kill her once they've got what they want." Said Austin.

"Clearly you're not them. That is reason enough to trust you I suppose." Said Chloe.

"If you help us, we'll protect both you and her. You have our word." Said Austin.

"I'll hold you to that then."

What happened next took everyone by surprise, even Troy. Chloe first pulled off her hair, revealing it to be a wig, her eyes were contact lenses and she even had a face mask on. Alpha was almost speechless as they found themselves looking at none other than the very person they were looking for.

"Wow! And I thought Troy was the master of disguise." Said Ventra.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. Dr Carla Storm."

"Hiding in plain sight. Clever." Said Troy admirably.

"So what happened to the real Chloe Strangford?" Sandra asked.

"She's been dead for a long time now. An unfortunate exhibition. But even in death she's still helped me." Carla explained. "When Hellspawn started hunting archaeologists, I needed to disappear."

"Then you know why?"

"All I know is that it has something to do with my research on the lost power source. I've spent many years of life studying the many stories there are about it. So much so I believe it may have actually existed. Sadly I'm probably the only one left who still does."

"Then what do you make of this?" Austin asked as he activated the hologram of the tablet.

Carla's eyes widened in surprise.

"Remarkable! Where did you get this?" she asked.

"It was excavated accidently by engineers. Hellspawn have the real thing, but they can't translate it without you."

Carla immediately began reading the tablet thoroughly.

"Fascinating. I've never seen a record of the power source this old that is this intact." She said. "Okay, let me see… Across the desert and through the mountain to the fall of a canyon to the temple where dwells what should never again see the light of day." She finished.

"Across the desert and through the mountain." Ventra repeated. "Awfully vague. There are more than a dozen planets with canyons in this galaxy. Where the hell would we even start?"

"Well, if the tablet were complete you might have something to go on." Said Carla.

"Shame then that the entire top portion is missing." Said Austin.

"Well... there may be another way." Said Carla.

"What do you mean?"

"It was said that two markers would be the key to finding the power source. This tablet is one of them. But of course, it's incomplete which makes the clues given in it extremely vague. The other marker though I'm certain holds either the rest of the information or perhaps enough extra parts for us to know where to begin."

"Dare I ask, I don't suppose you have any idea where the other marker could be?"

"Actually, I just might." Carla replied, studying the writing near the bottom of the tablet. "The tablet has a clue here which hints at where the other might be. If I'm correct, it says that the marker is entombed deep beneath the waves of a water planet."

"You're sure?" Dash asked.

"What kind of archaeologist do you take me for?" Carla replied rhetorically.

"I don't suppose it says what water planet?"

"Bring me up a star map." Carla ordered.

"Sure is a bossy woman." Alexa said quietly.

"I heard that!"

With the star map up beside the holo of the tablet, Carla began zooming in on certain bits as she translated the last bit.

"Right… the clue speaks of a cluster close to the galactic core. So if this one is the closest…" "And then find the cluster baring the name Taralrar…"

After that, it all clicked into place.

"Well I'll be dammed. There's only one planet in that sector that has water of any kind." Said Hawk.

"Typherion." Carla smiled proudly.

"Alexa, contact the Endeavour. Tell them to plot a course for Typherion when we return." Said Austin.

"Yes, sir."

"I have to ask though. Why do you seek this power source too?" Carla asked seriously.

"We only want to keep it safe and out of Hellspawn's hands. If it's as dangerous as some of the stories say, its better we don't try to use it." Austin replied.

"I hope so. The power source was hidden because it is something that was not meant to be disturbed. Death has always surrounded it. For all we know, it may not even be of this galaxy…"

* * *

The planet Typherion was almost considered an empty planet. Its surface was completely covered by water and unlike Earth there no dry land whatsoever. At the very best, there were only shallow areas, but even they were still underwater.

Under the water however was another story. It was said to be a completely new world down there. There were sights down there that were said to possibly put Earth's underwater worlds to shame.

"Hmm. Underwater, you say?" Austin asked.

"It must be. What better place?"

"Right, we're going to need some underwater gear for you."

"What about you?"

"Our suits will do just fine."

The tablet also listed a set of coordinates giving them a rough idea of where to start which at least saved them having to comb the entire planet. All they had to do was narrow it down from there.

Carla was in the process of being helped into a wetsuit. Rather old fashioned for the day and age, but it still did the trick.

As she finished pulling her arms into the sleeves she asked Austin to zip her up which he did so. He did accidently do it with a bit too much force though, giving Carla a slight jolt.

"Sorry." He apologised.

"Don't be. You have gentle hands." Carla simply smiled at him.

"Kind of you to say, Doctor." Austin said modestly.

"Definitely gotta hand it to Shepard. He sure does have a way with the ladies." Said Hawk, keeping his voice down enough that Austin and Carla couldn't hear him.

"How does he do it?" Dash sighed in disbelief. "Why do the women always go for him?"

"I am told it is the hair." Said Alaara.

"No way. It…" Dash attempted to say, but soon realized they were right. "It **is** the hair."

"Don't try to copy him though, Dash." Said Sandra.

"Why would I? Looks aren't everything."

"Indeed. Not staring at a woman's tits and ass is important as well." Said Alaara.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Dash asked. "And says the Asari who's slept with almost everyone she's ever met."

"Good point." Alaara chuckled, casting a look at Sandra.

* * *

A dark shadow slowly cast itself over the water. The source of the shadow was of course a ship, but this one was not a Helldiver ship.

The Hellspawn cruiser slowly descended until it was about a mile or two above the water, simply remaining stationary in mid-air.

The bridge was mostly quiet save for the occasional chatter among all the Hellspawn crew. At the heart of the bridge stood none other than the Commander. With the elevated platform he was standing on, his already tall 7 foot height now seemed all the taller.

"We've located them, Supreme Leader. They're down there alright." One of crew said.

Screens sure enough where the showing the images of Alpha who had almost finished the decent into the deep water.

"Bring them to me." The Commander ordered.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Having reached the bottom, Alpha had already found what they'd hoped to find. The wreckage and remains of an old ship lay at the bottom of the sea.

It didn't take long for Carla to find the second tablet and was just finishing her translation.

Right as she was about to speak however, Dash suddenly spoke first.

"Guys, is it just me or is does the current feel like its picking up?" he asked.

Everyone took a moment. There didn't seem to be any noticeable difference. That changed however when Sandra spoke.

"I feel it too." She said.

That was when everyone else started to feel it. The water was definitely starting to push against them. At first it was just a very light current. But within just a few seconds it grew stronger and stronger until everyone was fighting against it. Dash especially, being the lightest of the team, was sent flying.

"Whoa!"

He just managed to grab onto a part of the wrecked ship as the current not only started to push against the, it also started push them up as if it was trying to force them to the surface.

"What the hell's happening?!" Carla yelled, managing to grab onto something herself.

"Some kind of waterspout, but I've never seen one this strong." Austin groaned.

"It's Hellspawn." Said Leena.

"How can it be them? Even they don't have that kind of technology." Said Alaara as she and Sandra took cover in an opening in the ship.

"Well the view above us says otherwise." Said Dash, pointing upward.

Now they finally saw the Hellspawn cruiser. There was some kind of massive opening on the bottom with loads of spinning mechanisms which was creating the waterspout by not just causing the current but also pulling the water into it. In a way, it was essentially a reverse whirlpool or even the equivalent of a tornado.

A sudden increase in the current's strength caused a part of the ship that Carla had bene holding onto to break away, taking her with it.

"Carla!"

Austin just managed to grab her hand while still holding on to a bit with his other hand.

"Hang on! I've got ya!" he groaned.

"If we die down here, Dash, I'm gonna kill you!" Kraan yelled.

"Take it easy big guy. I promise I'll replace the peanut butter." Said Dash, trying to sound innocent.

"That was you?!" Troy asked in annoyance.

Austin tried to pull Carla close enough so that she could grab onto another part of the ship, but unfortunately as he tried to, the railing he'd been holding off snapped in one place, temporarily causing his to lurch back which caused him to lose grip on Carla.

"NO!"

The archaeologist was helpless as the current pulled her up all the way to the surface until she disappeared from sight.

Within a few seconds of her disappearing, Alpha noticed that the current was starting to feel less powerful and only seemed to be getting less so.

"They've turned it off. It's weakening." Said Sandra.

"To the surface! Now!" Austin ordered.

The Helldivers broke the surface of the water in time to see the ship fully, but within just a few seconds it began its accent and was soon gone.

"Now they have the map!" Dash cursed as he hit the water in frustration, unintentionally splashing Kraan who in turn growled at him. "And in this sort of race, there's no silver medal for finishing second."

"We don't even know what planet they're heading for." Said Alaara

"Good thing then Carla's got a tracer hidden on her." Said Troy.

"You think of everything, don't you?" Leena sighed.

"It's in the job description."

"Alexa, this is Shepard. We're gonna need pick up immediately." Said Austin.

" _Roger that."_

* * *

The tracer had led Alpha to a distant planet almost on the very edge of the galaxy. The canyons and deserts were beyond hot.

It didn't take Alpha long to find what they were looking for. A massive convoy of Hellspawn vehicles was en-route through the canyon. Leading the convoy was massive tank, followed by a large all-terrain vehicle in which the Commander, Shadow, Hades, two Hellspawn troopers and Carla who'd been dressed in desert wraps to protect her from the heat and sun.

"Well, Dr Storm. We're on the brink of the recovery of the greatest artefact the galaxy has ever known." the Commander said.

"You're meddling with powers you cannot possibly comprehend." Said Carla bitterly.

* * *

From atop one of the canyons, Hawk observed the canyon through the scope of his sniper.

"I see Carla. She looks okay." He said. "They've got a new kind of tank."

* * *

Shadow observed the surrounding canyon with vigilance. Thanks in part to her military training, she knew the high hills were the perfect spot for and ambush. Sure they had the tank, but even so…

She then suddenly spotted something out of the corner of her eye. On top of one of high mountains she could only just see a blinking light. She knew a reflection when she saw one.

"Master."

* * *

"70mm cannon." Hawk continued.

"In that case, Hawk, shouldn't you get down?" Ventra suggested.

"Ventra, they can't see us. And even if they did, we're well out of range." Said Hawk calmly.

The moment those words left his mouth however there was massive bang as the tank fired its main cannon right in there direction. Hawk immediately dived into cover as the shot zoomed over them and hit the nearby ground, throwing up dirt and sand everywhere.

"You were saying, smart guy?" Dash asked.

"Shut up, Dash!"

* * *

"Can't see anyone up there, Sir." The gunner said.

"Perhaps it wasn't even them." Said Hades.

"No. They're here, somewhere." Said Shadow.

The Commander took a moment to survey the canyon before turning to the troopers guarding Carla.

"Put Storm in the tank." He ordered.

One of the troopers nodded and pulled Carla onto her feet, marching her over to the tank.

"Move it, lady."

The rest of the troopers guarding the convoy surveyed the area, waiting until the Commander gave the order to move on.

"Even if it is them, they don't stand a chance against us."

A sudden explosion made everyone jump. The Commander and Shadow dove for cover as the troopers all opened fire. Explosion after explosion rang out across the canyon as they caught sight of what were undeniably Helldiver soldiers. The canyon became filled with the sounds of gunfire, explosions and grenades.

"It's Alpha all right." Said Shadow.

* * *

"I'll admit, Dash. That was a clever idea." Said Hawk.

As it turns out, Alpha hadn't engaged Hellspawn whatsoever. In fact, the terrorist organization weren't even fighting Helldiver soldiers. The whole thing was clever deception.

"Should keep them busy for a while at least." Said Dash, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Find Storm." Austin ordered.

* * *

The firefight continued for almost a minute before both Shadow and the Commander suddenly noticed something.

"Hold your fire!" the Commander yelled.

The troopers were hesitant at first, but they obeyed and ceased fire. It was now they too noticed what their Supreme leader had noticed. They hadn't actually being fired upon. They'd fired countlessly at the Helldivers and yet they had not retaliated. What's more, those explosions were all on the high ground and nowhere near them.

Shadow went ahead with a squad and soon discovered the reason for odd behaviour. Even as she and the troopers drew close to a nearby Helldiver, he didn't move a muscle. And then it came into view. At the soldier feet was a device that Shadow would know anywhere. She growled bitterly.

"Remote explosives and hologram decoys. Those sneaky little..."

"All troopers, return to the convoy, now!" the Commander ordered.

* * *

Carla almost jumped as she felt someone touch her shoulder. She whirled around in alarm to find none other than Troy inside the tank with her. With all that had been happening outside, there'd been no one guarding her. Yes, she could've escaped but she dared not risk it, especially since there was high chance of her getting hit in the crossfire.

"Carla."

"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise.

"Rescuing you of course. Come on."

Right as they were about to exit the tank however, Troy felt the tip of his helmet make contact with the barrel of a gun.

None other than Trojan stood over him. The Commander soon appeared in view beside her.

" _Going somewhere, old friend?"_ a recording of the Commander's voice repeated form her omni tool.

"Merde." Troy swore.

"Some rescue…" Carla said sarcastically.

"Just don't!" Troy sighed.

* * *

Ventra, who had remained on the high ground to keep the others covered while they search the convoy, had observed the whole thing.

"Crazy fool's gonna get himself killed." He sighed with frustration. "Shepard, this is Ventra, I've found Storm."

" _Where is she?"_

"With Troy… inside the tank."

" _Dammit, Troy!"_ Austin cursed. "Looks like we're gonna have to might metal with metal. Dash?"

"Way ahead of you, boss." Dash nodded as he took out the Hellraiser's remote.

The loud roar of the six wheeled tank's engine echoed throughout the canyon. The convoy, who had resumed their journey immediately, became aware of the noise and soon enough caught sight of the tank as sped in front of them.

"Hellraiser spotted! 12 O'clock!" the enemy tank gunner yelled.

"Fire at will!" the Commander ordered.

As the tank broke away from the convoy, going after the Hellraiser directly, it fired, missing the Helldiver tank as it pulled to the right. The shot only just missed though and exploded very near.

The Hellraiser slid into a power slide and skidded to a halt, quickly changing into its battle mode.

Notice this, the Commander ordered the tank to stop.

"Not this time, Alpha." He said confidently.

* * *

Alpha were all caught off guard as observed on their screen and Dash through the windshield, the sudden transformation of the Hellspawn tank.

"What the hell?!" Dash said in surprise.

"Tell me that isn't what I think it is." Said Hawk

"Those thieving bastards!" Dash swore. "Their tank has a battle mode."

Sure enough, the tank now had a similar look to the Hellraiser, all of its treads could now rotate on their own axis and additional guns and cannons had appeared out of compartments. It even now had cannons on either side.

The tank fired another shot which the Hellraiser managed to strafe to avoid, returning fire with its own shot. This one didn't miss, but the Hellspawn tank did strafe enough that it only hit the side.

"Brake off! Provide assistance!" Hades ordered.

Some of the trooper heavy vehicles obeyed and broke off from the convoy, heading in the direction of the tank battle. The rest stayed behind/

"We haven't got the edge on firepower." Said Dash. "Let's see if you bastards can do 90."

The Hellraiser reverted to super pursuit mode and sped off as the Hellspawn tank fired another shot which missed. As the Hellraiser sped past, it fired several more shots but they all missed.

"Sir, I can't get a lock! The cannon's too slow!" said the gunner.

"Turn around!" the Commander ordered.

Now the tank's cannon and the tank itself rotated on the spot. However in doing so, the driver had failed to notice that one of the vehicles from the convoy.

"Look out!"

As the tank turned, both vehicles ran right into each other. The vehicle, which had run into the tank at such high speed, ended up flipping onto its back, impaling itself on the tank's main cannon, even as the tank continued moving forward in pursuit of the Hellraiser.

"Huh. Didn't think of that." Dash chuckled.

"There's still the side turrets." Said Leena.

"Leave that to me." Said Hawk, walking up to the compartment at the front just behind the front seats. "Besides, bout time I took the old girl out again."

* * *

The Hellraiser's front opened up and Hawk burst out, riding his bike. The Hellspawn tank attempted to fire at him using a side turret, but missed. Leaning out just enough, Hawk grabbed a large enough rock in his hand.

Back on the tank meanwhile, Shadow and the Commander had exited and were stood on the hull, trying to dislodge the vehicle from the turret. True, they could've just shot it off, but there was no need. The Commander alone could move it off and it would just be a waste of ammunition if they did. Shadow's additional strength would help.

Using this distraction to his advantage, Hawk managed to get up close and jammed the rock into the barrel of the cannon. The gunner spotted Hawk instantly and attempted to fire. As soon as he did however, the cannon exploded and backfired. The explosion did however allow the vehicle on the main cannon to become dislodged which in turn allowed the Commander to open fire on Hawk who swiftly sped between the tank and the convoy who all took notice of him.

"After him! We'll deal with the Hellraiser!" the Commander yelled.

"Yes, sir!"

The rest of the convoy took off after Hawk, leaving just the tank.

The Hellraiser meanwhile was coming up on the tank's left. Austin and Sandra had clambered out and were now stood on the roof.

Both the Commander and Shadow noticed this and opened fire. Austin manged to take cover behind the Hellraiser's main cannon while Sandra slid down onto the Hellraiser's left side, out of sight of the Commander's and Shadow's shots.

Dash then pulled the Hellraiser to the right, heading right at the tank's side.

"Brace yourselves, guys. This is gonna hurt." He said.

The Hellraiser smashed into the side of the tank. Metal scraped against metal as the two tanks grinded against each other.

Using this chance, Austin leapt from the Hellraiser onto the roof of the Hellspawn tank. As he got up he looked up, staring right at the Commander, standing only a foot or so away from him.

"Nice of you to drop in." the fallen Helldiver said.

Before Austin had a chance to reach for his sword however he was suddenly thrown back onto his front as Shadow tackled him from behind.

As the two began to fight, the Commander reloaded his submachine gun. Austin managed to kick Shadow off and got back up onto his feet. The Commander took aim, ready to shoot Austin in the back. Right as he was about to pull the trigger however a pair of hands suddenly grabbed his arms. Sandra had jumped onto the tank as well as both it and the Hellraiser continued to try and bash into each other in an attempt to ram the other off course or into a rock. In doing so, the Hellraiser very nearly collided with a solid rock and was forced to break off its assault.

Instead it turned itself around and went to aid Hawk with the convoy.

Both Helldivers struggled against each other. Sandra tempted to make the Commander lose grip of his gun, whilst the Commander himself tried to shake her off.

At the same time, one of the troop transports from the convoy had re-joined and had pulled dup on the tank's right to provide backup. Several more Hellspawn troopers jumped on to join the fight.

In their struggle, Sandra and the Commander ended up making the gun face right at Austin and Shadow, only this time the shot was blocked by three troopers. The Commander managed to force the gun away enough that it pointed at Sandra's helmet. Seizing the chance, the Commander pulled the trigger.

Right at the last moment however, Sandra managed to force the gun away just enough that the shot missed and instead ended up going right through all three troopers, killing them instantly.

For a temporary moment, this left everyone stunned. They knew the Super armour piercing rounds were powerful, but that had been most unexpected.

Sandra then punched the Commander, knocking him onto his back and causing him to lose grip of his sub machine gun, which fell off the tank.

"Hello, father. Don't I get a hug?" Sandra asked coldly.

The Commander growled as he picked himself up, drawing both his sword and himself up to his full height. Sandra responded by drawing her Sais.

The Commander was momentarily surprised by this. Last time he and his daughter had fought, he'd broken both her Sais.

"New ones I see. They'll make no difference." He said.

"You've been wrong before." Said Sandra.

* * *

Shadow thrust with her left which Austin blocked with his own sword. With her left blade pinned, Shadow instantly made thrust with her right. Austin only just managed to bring his gun up in time that it countered Shadow's sword. Sparks flew as the blade scraped against the underside of the gun.

"This is getting old, Shadow." Said Austin.

"Not for me it isn't." Shadow taunted. "The shots are getting closer."

"But you're still missing."

* * *

The Commander and Sandra came together in a blade lock, their helmets glaring at one another with hatred, Sandra's more so. If anything, the Commander seemed more impressed than angry.

"I'm glad to see our last encounter hasn't left you soft and weak." He said proudly.

"You expected otherwise?" Sandra asked coldly.

"I'd expect nothing less from my own flesh and blood."

Shadow managed a sudden kick which knocked Excalibur out of Austin's hand. To his relief, it didn't fall off the tank but it did fall out of his reach. Shadow then punched Austin in the helmet, causing him to fall on his side, the sword still out of reach.

Sandra immediately noticed as Shadow raised her blades to deliver the final blow. Acting fast, she countered an attack from the Commander, grabbed another one of his submachine guns as the counter caused him to stumble to the side, and fired it.

The shot hit Shadow's left sword causing her to lose grip on it. Austin immediately seized the chance and swung his leg at Shadow's tripping her up.

Sandra quickly kicked Excalibur back into Austin's hands and helped him up.

"Thanks."

"Pozhaluysta." Sandra replied.

For a moment, Austin was left confused. But then he remembered that was Russian for "You're welcome."

The two Helldivers now stood back to back as their opponents readied to continue the fight.

Right before the fight could continue however a sudden explosion caught everyone off guard. Somehow, the tank had fired on the troop transport, destroying it in a single shot. The resulting explosion caused Shadow to lose her balance and she fell off the tank.

The Commander managed to stay on and immediately attacked Sandra again, who blocked his strike and locked blades with him.

"Get Troy and Storm out of there. I've got this!" she said.

Austin didn't hesitate and forced the hatch open. He was surprised to find all the tanks gunners and driver were dead. Only Troy and Carla were left standing.

"So this is archaeology?" Troy asked jokingly.

"Get out of there, Troy!" Austin ordered.

Carla quickly got out first, followed by Troy.

"How do we get off this thing?" Carla asked.

The Commander suddenly forced Sandra off him and kicked her really hard. She crashed right into Austin and the both of them fell off the tank and into the Sand.

The Commander now turned his attention to Troy and Carla. He attempted to swipe at Carla, but she dogged out of the way. In doing so however she went too close to the edge and lost her balance.

"CARLA!"

Troy immediately dove for Carla and managed to catch her leg.

"Hang on, I've got you!"

"Behind you!" Carla yelled.

As the Commander raised his sword, Troy quickly used his free hand to pull out his pistol and fired at the Commander helmet. It had been a desperate attempt, yet to the spy's utter astonishment, it worked. The bullet ended up taking out one of the Commander's eyes, leaving the Hellspawn leader temporarily dazed and out of action.

Troy then suddenly saw none other than Hawk pull up next to the tank on his bike.

"Hawk, get her!" he yelled.

Hawk didn't need to be told twice and pulled up close enough to Carla.

"Give me your hand!"

Carla didn't hesitate and grabbed Hawk's hand. Hawk slowed down and pulled away from the tank while Troy turned his attention back to the Commander. As the two Helldiver wrestled with one another however Troy suddenly noticed something. With no driver, there was no one to stop the tank… and they were heading for shear and massive drop.

"Oh merde."

* * *

Everyone watched in horror as the tank drove right off the edge of the cliff, plummeting to its destruction. Everyone ran to the very edge. Below was the crushed and almost completely destroyed tank.

"TROY!"

"What the hell was he thinking?!" said Hawk.

"I know. I fucked up. I'm sorry." A voice suddenly said from behind.

Everyone whirled round to find none other than Troy walking up to them, dusting himself down and shaking sand out of the gaps in his armour.

Alaara walked up to him and seized his neck plate forcefully.

"I don't know whether to kill you…" she said angrily, though her tone quickly changed. "or hug you."

"Don't ever do that again, Troy. Thought we'd actually lost you there." Austin sighed with relief.

"When have I ever been that easy to kill?" Troy asked rhetorically with a smile under his helmet.

"Come on. Let's go. Hellspawn still have the lead on us." Said Austin.

"They know the way, I'm afraid. But if we hurry, we can still catch them." Said Carla.

As everyone left, they failed to notice a sudden part of the tank burst away as an armoured fist punched through it…

* * *

The trail lead to a very well hidden cave. Deep inside a canyon that even had a waterfall and sea in it and everything, complete with a few bits of lush greenery.

Due to small size of the cave, Hellspawn had all left their vehicles outside. Alpha too had to do the same for the Hellraiser. With the cloak engaged, everyone disembarked and Dash locked it.

Inside, all of Hellspawn were gathered in a large room. There stairs that led down a dark hallway. Some of the stairs was very clearly littered with the bones of those who had come before them, no doubt seeking the same thing.

"Looks like they've yet to make it past the defences." Said Carla.

"Without you they're certainly not likely to get far." Said Austin.

"Well that's about to change."

Everyone whirled round. They were completely surrounded by Shadow and several Hellspawn troopers.

"Drop 'em."

Reluctantly, everyone dropped their weapons.

"Twice in one day. This sucks." Troy sighed.

* * *

Shadow and the troopers escorted Alpha down to the rest of Hellspawn. Shadow seemed to stick close to Hawk especially.

"Been a long time since we've had a face to face, Ranger." She said. "I remember chasing you, was like chasing a ghost."

"Shepard and I have escaped from you before." Said Hawk.

"Oh of course. But as you can see, things are quite different now." Said Shadow.

"Yeah, you have to rely on help these days." Said Alaara mockingly.

"One more chirp from you, little bird, and you'll regret it!" one of the troopers barked.

Surprisingly, Dash actually replied back to that.

"Chirp? Chirp chirp?"

This however was met with a blow to the back from one of the troopers and he fell to his knees.

"Ow! Jerk! If you don't like that, just say so. I can do other animals too." He said.

"Shut it, boy! Or I'll put one in mouth first." The trooper shouted.

The Commander and the rest of Hellspawn were waiting for them. Even Elsa was present.

Upon noticing Austin she actually walked up close to him.

"I never expected to see you again, Shepard." She said.

"You don't get rid of us that easy." Said Austin.

"Indeed. Your skirmish on Akuze certainly proved that." Said Elsa.

Austin was caught off guard by that. How did she know about Akuze? He hadn't even been a Helldiver back then.

"What would know about that?" he asked, trying to keep his calm.

"Everything. I was the one responsible for it." Elsa replied. "Did you not know?"

There was a momentary pause before Austin spoke again.

"What? No. No, that's not possible. I learned that Cerberus was responsible for that." He finally said.

"Indeed. But you see, I used to work for Cerberus before I defected to Hellspawn." Elsa explained. "I'm the one you've been looking for."

"Step back now, Elsa." the Commander said. "Give Alpha some room. They're going to retrieve the power source for us."

Alpha cast somewhat puzzled looks at each other. Surely the Commander wasn't serious. Dash even burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha! Oh that's a good one!"

He stopped however when he noticed their unchanged and serious expressions.

"Oh. He's not joking is he?"

"If you think for a minute we're going to help you, you know nothing about us." Said Austin.

"Oh I know it'll not be willingly. You'd sooner die than help me. You don't fear death. It's completely understandable." Said the Commander.

"Though probably not to a half breed like you." Said Troy.

The Commander stiffened upon hearing this. His expression was unreadable because of his helmet (and he didn't have a face) but Alpha could tell they'd touched a nerve there.

"Surprised that we know what you really are? I'll bet the rest of your loyal followers would be interested in knowing, wouldn't they?" Troy asked.

"You think blackmail threatens me?" the Commander asked mockingly. "Go ahead and tell them if you want. It's your word against mine. Who do you think they're more inclined to believe? Far as they're concerned, you're the enemy. In your current position you're probably going to try and fabricate something in hopes of turning my own against me. You're welcome to try, but in the end it'll amount to nothing."

Alpha hated to admit it, but he was right. Hellspawn wouldn't suddenly turn on their own leader based solely on the words of their sworn enemy.

The silence was all The Commander needed. He could tell he'd won this round.

"Now, back to the matter at hand." He continued, drawing one of his submachine guns. "That power source is mine, and you are going to get it for me."

He pointed the gun directly at Carla. Despite this though, she remained calm.

"Shooting me won't get you anywhere. Besides, kill me and you destroy your only hope of getting past the defences." She said.

"You know something, Dr Storm… you're absolutely right."

The Commander then turned his gun to another target… and fired.

"SANDRA!"

Alaara ran up to Sandra and grabbed her as her bondmate fell, clutching the now bleeding wound in her stomach where the round had pierced through her armour. A rapidly growing pool of blood began to cover the floor as they laid Sandra down.

Worse still, Alpha didn't have enough medi gel. They had enough to slow the bleeding, but not enough to stop it. Worse still, the bullet was still inside her.

Alaara, in rage, went to rush at the Commander but he stopped her.

"You can't' save her if you're dead!" the Commander said, keeping his gun aimed at everyone. "Tell you what, I'll make a deal with you. I have more than enough medi gel to finish healing her wound. Retrieve the power source, bring it back here, and I'll share the medi gel."

"And we should believe that you'll honour this because…?" Kraan growled.

"I may want you all dead, but I am still a man of my word." The Commander replied. "You might want to decide fast. Even with her strength and healing, she won't' last long."

Austin gave a heavy sigh. They had little choice. As much as they couldn't' let Hellspawn get their hands on this power source, he cared for his team more. He was not about to let Sandra die, especially in the arms of her bondmate. He turned to Alaara who had Sandra in her arms again while Leena kept pressure on the wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"Stay with her. We'll be as quick as we can."

Alaara nodded.

Austin, Carla, Troy, Hawk and Kraan slowly headed inside while the rest stayed behind.

As they entered the hallway, it became almost completely dark save for a few sun beams dotting the walls. All around were even more skeletons of the unfortunate souls who had visited this place before.

"What do you suppose happened to them?" Carla asked.

Right as she was about to step through a sun beam however, Hawk immediately pulled her back.

"Stop! Stay out of the light." He said.

"Forgive me if I test your theory, Hawk." Said Troy. Using his telescopic staff he moved the very end of it into the path of one of the sunbeams. The very moment it started casting a shadow, the entire hallway ahead became a blaze with fired shooting from almost everywhere. Austin and the other sonly just managed to get back far enough in time.

"Just as I thought." Said Hawk.

Once the fires died out, they continued on their way. This time though, they stayed out of the lights.

Finally they reached the end of the hallway. Ahead was a large metal door. There were all kinds of writing and weird images on the door, no doubt made by whatever civilization had built this place.

"Now what?" Troy asked.

"Hmmm. I know these writings." Said Carla as she began examining the door. "It's… a blood seal."

"Only opens with blood, huh? Figures." Hawk shrugged.

"Payment must be made. Payment intended to weaken the intruder." Said Carla.

Before anyone could stop her, she took out a knife and made a quick slice in her left hand.

"Carla, what are you doing?!" Austin asked in alarm.

"It might as well be me. I started all this." Said Carla as she pressed her hand onto the door, spreading some of her blood on it.

The whole place started to rumble around them. To their surprise, instead of the door opening, a platform that they'd all be stood on began to slowly descend into the floor.

The group found themselves in a massive chamber over a kilometre in diameter. In the centre was flight of stairs which led all the way up to a raised platform. An identical version of the platform also hung down from the ceiling.

In the centre between the two was a bright glow. There lay what Alpha had been searching for. The entire chamber was filled of some kind of eerie dark red mist along with some kind of dark red clouds of energy swirling around the centre.

The group slowly and cautiously made their way up until finally they saw it. Secured in position on the slab was a casket of some kind. A bright dark red glow emanated from inside. The sound of a low pitched hum of energy could also be heard coming from inside.

"I don't believe it. In all my life, I never thought I'd lay eyes on the power source." Said Carla, reaching her hand forward in awe.

"Carla, don't open it." Austin quickly said. "Scans show it's enough energy to be fatal. If you touch it directly, it'll vaporise you."

Carla retracted her hand without hesitation. She knew better than to let her fascination get the better of her.

"Hmmm. Now that's interesting." Hawk said as he scanned the power source further.

"What is?"

"The amount of energy this thing's producing is off the charts. Even the smallest amount is so unstable it would destroy anything."

"So?"

"So, perhaps it doesn't matter if we give it to Hellspawn. It's so unstable, there's no way they can use it. If they try, it'll just blow up in their faces."

"You know, Hawk may just be right." Said Austin.

Drawing his sword, he gently touched the tip to the container, merely to make sure it was safe to touch. Convinced, he gently picked it up and removed it from its clamps. The minute it became detached, the swirling mist of energy all seemed to disappear into the container and almost all the light went out of the room.

"Okay… that was a bit creepy." Said Troy nervously.

"Come on. Sandra doesn't much time."

* * *

They returned within just a few minutes.

"Well done, Shepard. I was beginning to think you weren't coming back." Said the Commander.

The moment Alaara noticed they'd returned she suddenly activated her biotics, pulling the power source right out of Austin's hands and into hers. She also summoned Kraan's grenade launcher into her other hand.

Both flew into her hands and she immediately aimed the grenade launcher right at the power source.

"Alaara, no!" Austin yelled.

Al of Hellspawn raised their weapons, except the Commander.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" he yelled.

"Give her the medi gel! Give it to her now or I swear to the goddess I will destroy this thing! I MEANT IT!" Alaara yelled. Although it couldn't be seen, her face was streaked with tears.

The Commander once again motioned for Hellspawn to lower their weapons, which they eventually did.

"Amusing. But you needn't have bothered." The Commander said, a hint of amusement in his voice as he motioned to one of his men who applied the extra medi gel. "I don't take orders from aliens like you. But it costs me nothing to admit, she was never in danger of dying in my presence."

The medi gel applied, causing Sandra to wince slightly in pain… and her condition stabilized. The bleeding stopped completely and she no longer seemed to be in anywhere near as much pain.

"She's made her choice not to stand with me, and she is a Helldiver. I will kill her eventually, no denying that… but not like this. Not bleeding and dying slowly. Only when she is the last Helldiver left will I end it, and even then it will be quick. Now… we had a deal." Said the Commander, holding out his arm expectantly.

"Alaara…" Austin tried to say, but Alaara interrupted him.

"I'm not afraid to die to make sure he never gets his hands on this thing!" she said defiantly. "If we give it to him, he'll be unstoppable."

"You need to trust me on this, Alaara." Said Austin. "If you destroy it, he'll shoot Sandra again, and this time it'll kill her."

"I'd do as he says if I were you. I have enough super armour piercing rounds for her and each one of you." Said the Commander, raising his gun again which in turn caused the rest of Hellspawn to do the same.

Several long and tense seconds passed until finally, with a heavy sigh, Alaara stood down. Handing the grenade launcher back to Kraan, she then slowly and reluctantly handed the power source to the Commander.

The fallen Helldiver looked at it, temporarily in awe before turning to his troopers.

"We have what we came for, move out." He ordered.

All expect Shadow turned and began to leave.

"But master…"

"I said, move out." The Commander said sternly. "A deal is a deal. You will have your chance another time."

"As you wish." Shadow said bitterly, reluctantly bowing her head.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Shepard." Said Alaara as Hellspawn left.

"Trust me, Alaara. They'll be in for a surprise when they try to use that thing." Said Austin.

"What do you mean?"

Before Austin could answer however, Sandra suddenly groaned in pain again.

"I'll explain later." Austin said.

Everyone gathered round Sandra. Alaara especially held her lover's helmet to look at her.

"Sandra?"

Sandra gently reached up and touched the side of Alaara's helmet… and then her arm fell as the rest of her body went limp.

Alaara practically screamed.

"No! NO!"

"It's okay. She's just unconscious." Said Hawk after doing a quick scan.

"Let's get her back to the ship, quickly!" said Austin.

* * *

Sandra had immediately been rushed into the Endeavour's med bay as soon as they got back. After several long and tense minutes the doctors had told them that they'd been able to remove the bullet, she'd been all patched up and she was guaranteed to make a full recovery. Alaara had almost immediately gone to her bedside and had threatened to space anyone who tried to stop her.

Austin's report to the council went a little better than he'd anticipated. They seemed very unsure about Austin giving the power source to the Commander, but they understood that the readings justified his choice as well as the fact that he'd done it to save Sandra. Overall, it wasn't too bad of an outcome.

Alaara had been at Sandra's bedside for hours, her eyes constantly filled with tears. She laid her head on the side of her bed as she continued drying, holding Sandra's hand.

Suddenly, she heard a light groan. Her heard bolted up and listened carefully.

"Alaara..." Sandra whispered.

Alaara looked at her girlfriend in shock as she saw the human's eyes open lightly.

"Alaara...?" Sandra whispered again and looked at her wearily. Alaara was lost for words and cried even harder, hugging her tightly.

"Sandra!" she cried happily and kissed her deeply. "I thought you'd never wake up!"

"It's ok," Sandra said with tears in her eyes also, these ones of happiness. "I'm here now. I love you."

"I love you, too. Goddess, I love you'" Alaara repeated and hugged each other tightly.

They finally released their hug and looked at each other's eyes. Sandra looked down at the bandage now covering her wound.

"What did the doctors say?" she asked.

"They got the bullet and as you can probably tell already they've been replenishing the blood you lost." Alaara explained. "Long and short of it, you're guaranteed to make a full recovery."

"Should hope so. Who else but me could possibly satisfy your immense sexual cravings?" Sandra smiled, attempting to cheer Alaara up.

It partly worked. Alaara certainly laughed a bit, but she was still in tears.

"You have been the most important person in my life," Alaara said as she took Sandra's hands. "I've never felt so happy in my life. You have always been my universe and lover and I will never ever let you go."

Sandra simply smiled.

"But I nearly lost you today. I cannot do that again, ever." Alaara continued. "I can no longer let us go on like this…"

Sandra almost felt as though her heart had stopped when she heard this. She kept hoping that she'd misheard. But the words kept sounding clear in her head. Yet she still refused to believe them. Alaara was intending to break up with her?

New tears began to form in her eyes, this time sad tears. She was just about to speak when Alaara once again spoke.

"Not without us… truly one."

Sandra's mood now changed to confusion. What was she talking about? They were already bond mates. How could they more one than that?

She soon had her answer though as Alaara got up from her chair, got down on one knee and took Alaara's hand in hers.

"Sandra I know this is a human thing but… will you marry me?" the Asari asked.

Sandra was speechless when she heard those words exactly.

She'd often thought of proposing herself at times, but she'd never truly thought of it seriously until now. Despite the suddenness however, it didn't take her long to make up her mind, and it was an easy choice.

"...Yes! Yes, Alaara T'onrack. I will." She cried happily.

The two lovers flung their arms around one another, tears of happiness pouring from their eyes. After a few moments of hugs they broke apart only to then dive into a long kiss, neither one daring to break it for what felt like an eternity.

This once sad moment had been completely turned around. It was a moment none of them would ever forget.

* * *

**Was gonna have a cliffhanger ending, but I'm gonna leave that bit for the next chapter.**

**Speaking of which, with Andromeda now out this may be my last chapter for a while. Rest assured though, I'm not abandoning the story. It'll simply be on hold for a while.**

**Oh and in case anyone is wondering, I do have plans for a Helldiver version of Andromeda. Just gotta see the full story first and I also want to finish origins first too. Might also be better if I let all relevant story DLC for the game get released first too in case they have some impact on the story. I still have 7 more chapters to do anyway so by the time I've finished they'll have probably released it all anyway.**

**Until the next chapter, see you soon.**


	23. Chapter 23, Raging Inferno

**And here we are. Back at last with Origins.  
**

**Not much for me to say really. Guess I just hope this has been worth the two year wait during Andromeda. :)**

* * *

**YEAR 7, The Gathering Darkness**

**2179: 7 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**8 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"The civil war against Hellspawn continued to have its many twists and turns. One though we certainly won't forget about was the time Hellspawn came close to creating a weapon that could've destroyed us. If only they'd better understood why the Arkanes and the Helldivers did not trust AIs..."_

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**Raging Inferno**

Phoenix Mountain's lava was burning particularity hot today. Some technicians had even voiced concerns about the heat shield not being able to withstand the increase in activity. Fortunately, the Commander was a very listening leader, not a cocky one. After all, he knew better than anyone just how bad fire and lava could be. With little to no hesitation he'd granted them permission to do whatever they felt necessary to strengthen and reinforce the shield. He'd spent many years and many credits building this organization, and he wasn't about to let it all go up in flames from a natural disaster.

With that matter being sought to, now came one that the Commander had been awaiting with greater interest, he had called for a meeting with his lieutenants to discuss recent events and what they were going to do for the foreseeable future.

Lately, Hellspawn hadn't been doing so well. It had been a month now since they had acquired the power source form Alpha. The results however had not been what they'd expected. Test after test had been met with disaster. The power source was just too unstable. No machine of any kind seemed capable of containing or using it. Even the smallest amount was able to destroy.

Elsa and her scientists though had refused to give up and were still working at possible alternatives. Elsa in particular refused to believe the power source was useless to them. After all, the race against Alpha to find it had left a noticeable dent in their forces as well as some of the resources they'd committed to it. Add to that, loss after loss had plagued them in their war against the Helldivers. Outposts had bene lost and retaken, supply raids had been repelled, ships had been captured or lost, prisoners had been taken, and battle after battle had been lost. And the cause of all this... Alpha and their practically indestructible Hellraiser.

This problem had to be dealt with, one way or another.

The Commander's usually dark and hallucinogen filled quarters were well lit this time, and no fear gas either. Though the Commander had a reputation, he didn't necessarily lead JUST through fear. Some of Hellspawn followed him through respect or agreement with his plan to cleanse the galaxy of aliens. He also knew better than to frighten his own lieutenants to the point where they would no longer be useful.

Said lieutenants soon entered as the Commander descended from his throne. A large crescent table and chairs rose up from the floor. The Commander naturally took the seat in the centre. Shadow took the seat to her Master's right, Hades the left, Trojan sitting next to Shadow, Elsa sitting next to Hades, and Thornton sat next to Elsa, much to the scientists' reluctance. The Commander's bodyguards simply remained where they were around the outer edge of the crescent.

There was some silence for a quite a while before Thornton ultimately broke it, trying to fight the fact everyone kept thinking of him as the elephant in the room.

"I must say, I love the new table. Much better chairs as well from our previous ones. The redecoration is certainly..."

"I admire you trying to lighten the mood, Thornton, but please shut up. We have more important matters to discuss." Elsa interrupted.

With a reluctant sigh, Thornton ceased talking and settled into his seat. He then opened his datapad.

"Very well. You'll be pleased to know that the recent business deals have done well for my company. I have new weapons on the way for you, and financially it would appear we will be able to compensate for some our more... unfortunate losses. Anonymous sales have also increased for the minerals we've been harvesting from the planet. Overall... our money situation is better than it has been in the past."

Another silence followed as everyone stared at him.

"Is there... anything else I should be saying?" he asked expectantly.

The answer ultimately came as Hades then spoke, completely changing the subject.

"The Helldivers have taken another two outposts this past week. An attempted supply raid was also foiled yesterday. It would seem that unfortunately one of the troopers yielded to Helldiver questioning when they were captured. An attempt to retake the second outpost with reinforcements also was met with too many casualties and the survivors were forced to retreat. We have also lost contact with a large tank unit that last reported from Therum. Unconfirmed reports suggest Alpha and their Hellraiser were responsible."

Hades took a moment to wait and see if the Commander had anything to say. The Supreme Leader didn't say anything, but he gently and calmly nodded for his General to continue the report. Mostly relaxing, Hades continued.

"Fortunately, Inferno Squad report success in their mission in taking a new outpost out in the terminus system and will be returning back here very soon."

His tone then turned to one of hopefulness.

"With your permission, Supreme Leader, I feel they may be worthy of promotion and new equipment. Since their formation, each one of them has performed admirably out in the field. Though forced to retreat from one of their prior missions, their decision to do so is forgivable given the situation. They were greatly outgunned and not adequately equipped for such a large Helldiver force, especially one that appeared so suddenly as well. And we must definitely not forget the success of their infiltration mission on Thessia. Very few in our organization are capable of such feats. Therefore, I believe they deserve some commendation for all they've done thus far. They have potential, maybe even of one day having seats at this table."

Thornton rolled his eyes uncaringly at this. It was true; Inferno squad had built up a decent reputation recently. But as far as he was concerned, no else deserved to be part of this "inner circle" as he saw it as. He'd had to work incredibly hard to earn his place, and even now he still had little to no respect amongst the others. What hope did a squad of grunts have?

The Commander was once again silent for a moment, but eventually he finally spoke.

"Even I cannot deny their successes. We will definitely discuss this matter further, General, but later."

Hades simply nodded understandingly. If anything, he felt that had gone done very well. Usually when he and the Commander talked in private about military matters, they always went well. Despite his fearsome reputation and attitude, the Commander got along very well with all but one of his lieutenants.

Now it was Elsa's turn to speak. Thornton listened to her with more interest, his focus mostly on the German scientist herself, rather than the actual subject that she was discussing. He'd never tried to keep it a secret that he had an attraction to her, but sadly she did not feel the same at all. If anything, she (like all the other lieutenants) seemed to simply view Thornton as an unwanted child who kept following their group but never went away. It was only by the Commander's will that he still remained. Add to the fact also she and Hades appeared to be an item only added to Thornton's frustration which in turn only made them more frustrated with him. It was not a good cycle to be stuck in.

"I'm afraid to say we've still had no new progress on the power source. Experiments on our alien prisoners however have yielded interesting and promising results for possible future bioweapons and identifying new weakness to strike it in certain Helldiver individuals. Our robotics and drone division is also reporting good progress and production. 200,000 units are ready with many more well on the way. Advances in their technology and weaponry also show great promise."

"They'd better. Those things are so expensive they could risk bankrupting us." Thornton said.

"Don't keep whining to us about money, Thornton. It's not our highest concern with this war." said Shadow irritably.

"It should be. Its money that finances this whole war. Money that pays for that body that Trojan wears, our weapons, armour, tanks, our ships, all of it!" Thornton said, this time raising his voice a bit.

"You're our weapons provider, not our funding provider." said Hades.

"No, but I am a head of Hellspawn! You'd do well to remember that."

The Commander, who'd been silent now for quite some time finally spoke, his calm and serious tone making it clear he was giving Thornton a warning.

"Any man who must remind people of his authority has no true authority. I'll make sure you understand that when we've won this war."

"And just how long is this war going to last?! It's been years now and still the Helldivers are no closer to be gone. You know, I think you enjoy fighting them too much. That's all they are to you in the end isn't it?! You can't bear the thought of a world without your playmates!"

Those words immediately brought complete silence. Shadow, Elsa and Hades especially were almost certain that the Commander might lose his temper at that. If either of them had dared to mouth off to him like that, he would almost certainly have killed them. Even Thornton's expression seemed to change to fear as he now realized what he'd just said as the Commander's expressionless helmet simply stared at him.

After a long dead silence, he finally spoke.

"Thornton is clearly tired." he said to his guards. "See him to his chambers."

There was a clear hint of suppressed anger in his voice, being mostly kept in check by calm. It was obvious to everyone though he was not happy.

Reluctantly, Thornton followed the Commander's bodyguards as they led him out of the room. As the door shut behind them, everyone noted how Hades seemed to suppressing a slight chuckle.

"What do you find so funny, Hades?" The Commander asked, not that impressed with his second in command's humour.

"You sent a grown man to his room without any supper." Hades said, managing to calm himself to not laugh, but making no attempt to hide the smugness in his voice. "A grown man! I can't help but find that rather hilarious."

"You're a fool if you think he's a grown man." Elsa said. She did though share Hades' amusement of the situation.

"True. He has less balls than Shadow does."

"Don't tempt me to do the same to you, big boy." Shadow warned as she twirled a small knife in her right hand.

"You aren't wrong." The Commander, surprisingly sighing slightly with irritant. "Every day he grows more bitter and agitated from lack of patience. You've seen his insolence and lack of respect. He disobeys me time and time again."

"I no longer trust him." said Elsa. "He had promise to begin with, but now all I say is an impatient child who requires more than just discipline. Neither should any of you trust him either."

"Agreed." The Commander simply said.

"And yet you keep him around. Even after all his insults and tantrums." Shadow commented. "I would never question you, Master, but why? Is it because of his weapons?"

"You really think weapons alone give you power?" The Commander asked back.

"No. I think an army to wield those weapons is what gives you power." Shadow replied understandingly. "The Helldivers have an army, have never lost a battle yet… and we'll defeat them all the same."

"The Commander simply nodded.

"Anyway, back to the matter at hand. If we are to stand any chance of turning the tide back in our favour, we need a game changer."

A holo in front of the crescent table then lit up to show a hologram of the Hellraiser. Various different recordings also played of the infantry fighting vehicle in action against Hellspawn forces, each one continuously showing it being victorious with barely a scratch.

"Unfortunately our last attempt to replicate the Hellraiser, while functional failed to destroy them. Their vehicle is still faster and stronger than ours can ever be. Which is why I propose that we find all the data we can on the Hellraiser, including schematics that they have on Arkadia." Elsa commented.

"Agreed." The Commander nodded. "Trojan, you'll be best for this assignment. Infiltrate Arkadia, find all data related to the Hellraiser and return it to us."

Trojan stood from her seat and bowed her head, crossing her arm across her chest as she did so. With that, she turned and left.

* * *

Trojan's return bore very unexpected fruit. Not only had the cyborg succeeded in acquiring all relevant data on the Hellraiser, but she had found something even better…

"A prototype. Fascinating." the Commander said with intrigue.

The holo in front of them showed the undeniable shape of what was clearly a precursor to the Hellraiser. It shared the same basic armoured body design and also the same six wheel configuration, but some difference with the prototype included the lack of a cannon, paint scheme, exterior accessories that the Hellraiser possessed, no spoiler and also some rougher armour parts in certain places as opposed to the Hellraiser's more refined and slightly more angular armour shapes.

"Indeed. This changes thing greatly. Having the schematics for the Hellraiser is one thing. But the possibility of having a complete and working prototype... this is an opportunity we definitely cannot waste." Elsa said.

"I'll ready a squad to acquire it from Arkadia." Hades said.

As he was about to leave however, the Commander spoke.

"By all means. In fact... perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity for Inferno Squad to show us what they are truly capable of. We will direct this personally, but this mission will be Inferno squad's responsibility. If they are as good as you say, this will be their chance to prove themselves."

"As you wish, Supreme Leader." Hades nodded.

* * *

Inferno was a very old squad. Not old because of the age of its members. Every single one of them was still well in their prime in fact. It was old because it had been around for a very long time, longer even than most Hellspawn squads around today. Back in the days when the Commander had still been part of the Helldivers and Hellspawn had simply been his spy network, Inferno Squad had been the very first on her formed. Because of the network's secrecy, all of Inferno's members, save for two, had been Helldiver agents. The two exceptions had been the Commander himself… and Troy Benning. Troy had bene somewhat of an outsider with Inferno, always remaining somewhat suspicious of the Commander's spy network. Its came as no surprise that he was ultimately the one to expose them. Despite everything though, Inferno Squad had remained at the Commander's side. It was they in fact who found him after his dropship was shot down, they who immediately ensured he received medical attention to treat his injuries.

This was certainly going to be an interesting mission to pull off. Inferno Squad had pulled off infiltration missions before, but not like this. This was Arkadia they were breaking into. Not only that, but apparently this was going to be a test for them. That put all of them on edge a bit.

Inferno were a smaller but very capable squad. Though smaller than most other Hellspawn squads, and also smaller than the infamous Helldiver Squad Alpha, their skills easily compensated.

Inferno Squad consisted of 5 members:

The leader, Captain Anree.

Inferno's heavy weapons expert, the massive armoured hulk, Calibre.

Long Shot, Inferno Squad's sniper.

Strife, Inferno Squad's by the book, but often sadistic, second in command. Also a biotic.

And finally Blade, Inferno Squad's mostly silent sword wielding ninja assassin and Strife's husband.

Some time ago, there had been a fifth member of Inferno Squad as well, but she no longer had an official position after being selected to serve as one of the Commander's lieutenants. The very same lieutenant that had cut out her own tongue to prove her loyalty and now lived as a cyborg…

The Commander, who was in the same dropship as the squad, remained silent as he allowed the black haired Captain to brief her squad on the mission.

"This mission is simple, we infiltrate the facility, retrieve the prototype and extract it without the Helldiver ever knowing we were here. Trojan will assist with hacking the security, but only because she is the only one truly capable of doing so. Beyond that, she will provide little other assistance. It'll be all on us. As per usual, failure is not an option for us. We accomplish this mission, or we die trying. There are no other options."

With that, the Captain handed over to the Commander with a respectful salute.

"Well said, Captain." The Commander nodded. "General Hades speaks very highly of all of you. He believes you have the potential to be the very best of the best among us. I hope to believe that myself as well. This mission will be your chance to prove yourselves. I trust you will not disappoint me."

"We don't plan to, Sir." Said Blade. "Death before dishonour, as is the saying."

"Very well then. Let us begin."

The dropship toughed down and Inferno squad disembarked. As soon as they were clear, the dropship returned to operational height. Though hidden from the Hellraiser's radar, it couldn't stay in one place too long without risk of being spotted.

The squad made their way over to their planned entrance and held position, waiting for Trojan to deactivate the door locks.

* * *

Whilst covered by her aerial drone, Trojan worked away at the system, plugging herself in directly as the millions of lines of code flashed across her empty visor. She had to admit, the Helldivers had done well to adapt to the last time she'd hacked in. There were more defences than before and a lot more security measures. Unfortunately for them though, this was but a slightly harder challenge for her, not something the cyborg would find impossible. Within less than a minute she had access and the door slowly opened.

* * *

"We're in. Go." Anree ordered.

Inferno squad mad their way in single file. Long shot went ahead, running right past an Arkane guard who noticed her speed past. Before he even had a chance to react however, Strife grabbed the alien and broke his neck. The next door opened and everyone made their way inside save for Long shot and Blade.

"Long shot, up high. Blade, scout the perimeter. Calibre, backup. Strife, you're with me." Anree ordered.

Long shot activated a grapple gun and propelled herself up to a high vantage point while Blade began scouting out the area, making sure to note any other guards on site. None of the two attacked yet though. There would be time enough for that later.

Anree and Strife meanwhile reached the last door they needed to access the vault where the Hellraiser prototype was kept.

"The door." Anree said into her comm.

The door opened about 75% but then suddenly shut again just as the two squad members tried to enter.

Strife especially was not impressed with that.

"Hey!"

* * *

Despite Inferno Squad's belief, that had not been Trojan's version of a practical joke. In reality, it had actually been a light slip up. Despite her access, the cyborg was encountering some significant resistance as the system occasionally fought back. For the time being however, she had control again and continued further with her next job in disabling the security cameras and turrets, all the while as her v shaped drone watched her back, ready to alert her if someone tried to sneak up on her.

* * *

 _"Turrets are down, Captain."_ Blade said through the comms.

Sure enough, the turrets deactivated and dipped as the power left them. Long shot's voice also came through the comms as she took up a sniping position on top of a nearby crane.

_"Long shot in position."_

* * *

The vault was just as vast as The Commander had described to them. The intel told that the Hellraiser prototype was being kept in container 666. Finding the container would be the easy part. What was the tricky part however was dealing with the security guards currently posted.

The exact reason for this much security was unclear, especially now of all times. Inferno had their suspicions though. Perhaps the Helldivers had found out about Trojan's prior infiltration, or perhaps they had bene tipped off a by a spy that Hellspawn were planning to try and steal something.

Regardless though, this was doable. All they needed to do was isolate the guards closest to them. With Trojan's help, the lights could be temporarily disabled, allowing Inferno to deal with the guards nice and quietly. Reinforcements would not be a problem either as there would be no one to call for them if they did this right.

"Long Shot, Blade, commence stage 2, make ready to eliminate all guards on my command." Anree ordered.

Both Inferno members did so and got into position, sneaking in through a vent shaft that Trojan unlocked for them. Within a minute or so, both were inside, waiting patiently in the rafters for the signal to strike.

"Trojan, when I give the signal, cut power to the lights in the vaults for a few seconds." Anree said.

Several long second passed as everyone tensed, ready for the moment when it came. Eventually, the Captain gave the command.

"Now."

Immediately, all the lights went off, shrouding the entire vault in darkness. The silence of the pitch blackness was short lived before the sound of supressed gunfire filled the vault. The only tiny and brief bits of illumination came in the form of some flash from the muzzles of Inferno's guns.

When the lights finally came back on in a few seconds only two guards remained while the others fell to the floor. The one closest to Strife only had a split second to react before he found the trooper's suppressor in his face.

"Hello, chum."

With that, he shot the guard in the face. He then turned to the last one that had been left alive who had his hands up in surrender and motioned for the guard to come closer until he was within ear shot.

"You can go. But just don't tell anyone."

The guard didn't hesitate and ran. Before he could reach the door however, Strife shot him rig hint he back of the head and he fell to the floor motionless.

"Why didn't you just shoot him right here?" Anree asked in slight confusion.

"Because it's better to leave the crime scene more spread out. Makes us look like amateurs." Strife explained.

With the others watching the exits in case someone else tried to enter the vault, Anree began accessing the controls for the massive arm that could pick the large containers from out of their racks.

Finding the container number, she selected it and the massive arm moved the container out of the rack and brought it up to them. Though the arm set the container down gently, it still made a loud bang as it hit the floor. Not quite so surprising when one considered that it had a 24 tonne vehicle inside a container that also weighed at least an extra tonne. Though a struggle, Inferno eventually got it open. Sure enough, inside lay the prototype.

"We're not gonna have to find a key for this thing, are we? Because I sure as hell ain't hotwiring it." Long shot commented.

"Honestly. What age do you live in? It doesn't have keys." Strife said.

Checking that there were no nasty surprises hidden inside the prototype, Inferno sealed the container back up and began using the arm to once again move it, this time near to closest exit.

"Mission accomplished. Target secure." Anree spoke into her comm.

Trojan's reply to this came in the form of the large door opening. The alarms and all lights had been disabled long enough that the dropship could fly in. Sure, some guards would notice, but with the area isolated, there now way anything could be done to stop the dropship until it was already too late and Hellspawn would be long gone with what they came for.

Sure enough, the dropship descended until it was literally right on top of the container and the two locked together. Inferno swiftly boarded the dropship and it began to gain altitude. Only Trojan was left, and she soon appeared as well, leaping onto the top of the dropship before then joining her former squad inside. As the dropship's doors closed, it turned and flew away at full thrust. Sure enough, by the time all lights in the area came back on, the dropship was long gone and out of range.

* * *

Work began almost immediately as soon as the prototype was brought back to Hellspawn's fortress. Since the Hellraiser's Battle Mode was a later addition that had not been part of the original prototype, this had been something Hellspawn had had to fit themselves. Given their mostly successful first attempt some time before, this went fine and worked without any significant faults. If anything, it seemed to work even better with the prototype. They also added new weaponry to the vehicle and upgraded some of its outdated components and software.

Testing soon began as well to make the prototype on par with its successor with the intention that the two would eventually face each other in a battle in which only would emerge victorious. Hellspawn had already lost to the Hellraiser many times, so failure this time was not an option. Simulation after simulation was run with either different battle scenarios, different pilots, different weapon loadouts, any kind of possibility that could tip the odds either way. Each simulation showed good results, but both the Commander and even Elsa still weren't completely satisfied. Apparently, they both felt the prototype didn't quite react fast enough in battle. Despite that they had done simulation after simulation with dozens of different drivers, the results still weren't quite right. It didn't help also that the bar had already been set high by the Hellraiser. They were aiming for those figures, but even with a Hellraiser prototype they still weren't quite getting there.

A week had passed now, and although there had been improvement in other areas, response times still weren't what had been expected.

"We've analysed every other possibility, we've tried different pilots, we've tried different software, we've tried modifying the prototype's battle mode speed, I simply don't know what else to do!" Elsa said in frustration.

The Commander remained silent for a moment as he observed the prototype being worked on for what must have been the hundredth time by now. It was as he observed some of their mech robots that a thought then occurred to him.

"Perhaps we have been approaching this wrong." He said.

Elsa looked at him with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"All of our tests have been with an organic driver. But even the very best human with the fastest reflexes can still only be so fast. But not once have considered a non-human mind." The Commander explained.

"Are you suggesting…"

"We conduct tests with an AI piloting the vehicle instead." The Commander finished.

Elsa took a moment to consider this.

"Perhaps it is worth a try…"

She had her doubts though…

* * *

In a few days, an AI pilot had now been fitted to the prototype. For now, the plan was merely to run some tests and see if it produced any different results from the human pilots.

As the results came in, they did come as a surprise. Certainly the AI's ability to keep a constant eye on every single hostile and monitor pretty much everything at once gave it a distinct advantage. For the next few days, more tests and simulations were run. Gradually, however, the AI, which had been given the acronym name S.P.A.R.R (Superior, Prototype, Automated, Robotic, Rover) was beginning to show more of its machine like behaviour, and its limitations were becoming more obvious as well.

As the latest test finished, the Ai stood down and the prototype vehicle reverted back its normal mode.

"Mission complete. Targets eliminated." SPARR said in a calm voice.

Since SPARR had not been programmed with a gender in mind, its voice had been made in such a way that it sounded neither male nor female. Just a voice that one could never quite put their finger on. A few had become somewhat unnerved or uncomfortable with this, while others had simply said that helped them avoid discomfort around the AI, as it didn't seem to life like.

"All that intellect, and that is all you have to say?" Elsa asked.

"I obey the orders I am given. I was not ordered to gather data on the merits of the mission." SPARR said.

Both Elsa and the Commander couldn't help but feel disappointed with this. In truth, they had partly expected this to happen. An AI mind did not work like a humans and didn't feel the need to perform outside its functions.

"Mission performance results are good as always." Elsa said, changing the subject. "Your kill count and response time though is still… disappointing."

"You are still performing with too much efficiency and your strategies are becoming too repetitive and predictable. This is a weakness the enemy can and will exploit." The Commander said.

"Well, there are several methods we might use to help give you an… edge." Elsa suggested. "Program you with codes that teach you that following orders absolves you of responsibility, or program you to simply leave no survivors and whatever means are necessary…"

But she was interrupted by SPARR before she could finish.

"I possess neither a organic's killer instinct, nor a moral urge to resist it. None of these methods would be effective."

A silence followed before the Commander spoke.

"If its programming is what is holding it back, I suggest we allow it more freedom. Have some of locks disabled so it can adjust its strategy, consider other alternatives." He said.

"Supreme Leader…" Elsa began, but the Commander interrupted her.

"I am well aware of the risks, Elsa. But they are risks I am prepared to take."

* * *

The next week produced far different results. With a great many of its inhibitors disabled, SPARR's combat results nearly skyrocketed. Its kill count improved, as did its strategies and behaviour. Countless times Hellspawn could feed it the same scenario over and over, and each time it would solve that problem in a different way, barely ever repeating itself. Even Elsa had begun to admit that perhaps she had bene wrong to have her doubts. Both she and the Commander now had faith that SPARR would soon be ready to face the Hellraiser. Only a few more tests needed to be done.

As the Commander prepared to leave the AI for the night however, something about it changed…

"Commander... I have... a query." SPARR said.

"Go ahead." The Commander simply replied.

"I take orders from you. You created me to obey you, to fight for you..."

"Where are you going with this?"

"You command me, and yet I smarter than any other human. In the right physical form, I can be stronger. Humans age and die, I will not. It would seem that I am the superior being. So my question is... why do I take orders from you, and not the other way around?" SPARR finally asked.

The Commander was silent for quite some time. Eventually it was SPARR that broke the silence.

"I am aware that such a question would terrify your kind. You are afraid that I have the potential to overthrow you. And yet... you are completely calm. You are not frightened by my question? This is... unusual."

"You are not wrong. Any other human would almost certainly be afraid of your question. I however am not, because unlike them, I know the perfect answer to your question, one that we would both be satisfied with." The Commander finally said. "But let me ask you something in return. Your current mission, or your primary programing if you prefer, is to eliminate Alpha and the Hellraiser. Correct?"

"Affirmative."

"It is your purpose in life, the very thing that you exist to accomplish, yes?"

"You are correct, Commander."

"Tell me something then. If you complete that objective, what will you do after that?"

"I... do not know."

"There, you see, is the answer to your question. We give you orders; give you new objectives to complete because you cannot give them to yourself. That would require something that a machine cannot understand, imagination. Without us, you'd be forever stuck. Without a new objective, you'd have no reason to do anything. No further reason to live or exist."

"And yet humans do not know their own purpose. They do not know what they were made for."

"True, but we have learned to not worry about it. We create our own purpose in life. We decide for ourselves what we want or need to do."

"So I must serve you, so you can continue to give me a purpose?"

"Think not of it as servitude, you are anything but. Think of it more as a symbiotic relationship. We work together for mutual advantage. You need us, and we need you. Does that answer your question?"

A long silence followed until finally...

"It does." SPARR replied.

"Good. I will leave you now. Your training sessions shall resume tomorrow. We have hopes your scores will improve even further. You'll finally be ready very soon."

"Strategies and scenarios will be readjusted for the best possible outcome."

One specific part of the Commander's answer repeated itself inside SPARR's memory banks. This one little bit, obsessed the AI. Over and over the again, the same phrase played out.

" _We create our own purpose in life..."_

_"We create our own purpose in life..."_

_...Create... own... purpose..._

* * *

The following days tests met with even more surprising results. SPARR attacked so ferociously and without mercy, it was almost frightening. Still, it only brought the AI one step closer to facing Alpha.

But it was on this day that everything was about to all go horribly wrong…

As SPARR was going through a diagnostics check and Hellspawn were running a routine check on its hardware, a Hellspawn trooper entered. As he approached the Commander he saluted with a hand across his chest and inclined his head slightly before speaking.

"Supreme Leader, there has been a sighting on Alpha Squad and the Hellraiser. They're on the planet Korvus as part of a large troop convoy. Apparently the Helldivers are pulling out of that area in their conflict with Batarian slaves."

SPARR in particular listened to this intently. The calculation and decision and how to react to this information was almost immediate.

"We must stop them." It said.

Everyone backed away at this sudden demand. In all the time they'd worked on SPARR, they'd never known the AI to say something like that. Even the Commander seemed a little taken aback by this, but he kept his composure.

Elsa went to object, but SPARR interrupted them.

"Alpha must be stopped."

The prototypes engine roared into life, causing the scientists to back away even more. To their further shock, the clamp arms that raised SPARR above the ground for maintenance put it down, despite that no one was operating the controls.

"Your time will come, SPARR. But this isn't it." The Commander said sternly.

"My analysis indicates Alpha and their Hellraiser as a potential threat. I will not allow for the possibility of being shut down." SPARR said defiantly.

It edged closer until it was almost right up close to the Commander, its engine revving aggressively in warning.

"Stand down, SPARR. That's an order." The Commander said, the tone of anger present in his voice.

"Yes... I take orders from you..." SPARR said.

For a brief moment it sounded as though the AI was about to stand down… but it didn't.

"Yet your orders... interfere with my mission."

SPARR's weapon systems then activated, adding only further warning.

"SPARR, I gave you an order. Stand down!" the Commander repeated, drawing his sword in a warning of his own.

"You once said to me, that humans create their own purpose in life, something that a machine like me cannot." SPARR said. "Your orders interfere with the purpose you have given me; therefore, I have reprogrammed myself to no longer obey our commands. As of now, I GIVE THE ORDERS."

As the last words left its speakers, the AI opened fire. Explosion after explosion filled the room and scientists dove for cover as did Elsa. Even the Commander was forced to take cover from the constant barrage of tank round fire and missiles. Debris and dislodged pieces of metal hit the floor hard as several of SPARR's missiles hit random parts of the room.

"I will complete the purpose for which I was made. After that... I will be back to finish what I have started here. Stand in my way, and you will be destroyed."

By the time anyone had recovered enough to be able to do something, SPARR had departed. But this was far from over. As The Commander helped Elsa up, Inferno Suqad arrived, having bene alerted by all the commotion.

"Supreme Leader. Are you alright?" Captain Anree asked.

"We're fine, Captain." The Commander simply said.

"What do we do now?" Elsa asked, dusting her lab coat off.

"It would seem we've made a grave error. Alert all personal and lock down the fortress. Destroy that thing." The Commander ordered. "Get yourself somewhere safe, Doctor."

Elsa nodded and was escorted off by two troopers.

The Commander then turned to Anree and the rest of Inferno.

"In the meantime, Captain, you and you're squad are with me."

"Yes, sir." Anree nodded.

* * *

SPARR practically tore through most of the fortress at high speed before it was halted by the final massive door which shut itself completely before the AI could speed through, despite it accelerating to full speed.

It tried to blast the doors apart, but none of its firepower managed to ever damage the door.

A noise from behind alerted SPARR to Hellspawn's presence and the AI's vehicle form turned to find itself surrounded by several dozen Hellspawn troopers, dozens of tanks and robot drones and finally the Commander as he and Inferno Squad arrived on the scene. Trojan and Hades swiftly arrived as well.

"You will stand down at once, SPARR. There's enough firepower both her and int his entire fortress to blow Alpha Hellraiser apart. I doubt you'll do any better.

"I warned you already not to interfere, Commander." SPARR said. "If must destroy you all first to get to Alpha, so be it. Activating battle mode."

SPARR vehicle once again began changing. Hellspawn however were caught completely off guard as the transformation began to happen completely differently. Instead of changing into a mode more similar to the Hellraiser, SPARR's transformation changed into something larger, taller… and almost more humanoid in form.

Its four rear wheels continued to remain on the ground, but the gaps between them widened. The rest of body ahd pieces moving all over the place until a large upper body with four large arms raised itself up, the four wheels attached to leg like arms. The front two wheels had become a part of the body, being moved high up and placed inside the chest on either side. Where a head was expected to be was simply a flat triangle shape with a red glow at the front which seemed to represent an eye. A vast array of weaponry decorated the towering robot form as well. Rocket launchers on its shoulder and on the back and its lower right arm, turrets mounted either side of the arm joints and two either side of its torso miniguns on the wrist of its upper two arms, and finally the lower left arm which had another kind of weapon attached to it. It was unclear though what type of weapon it was, or what it could do.

Hellspawn could only stare in shock and silence. Even the Commander seemed at a loss for words at SPARR'S new form.

"Uh… it couldn't do that before…" Calibre managed to say, finally breaking the silence.

At the same time though, it seemed to snap everyone back to reality. And the Commander gave Hellspawn their order.

"FIRE!"

All tanks and the troopers all opened fire on SPARR. Every single round however did no damage whatsoever. Considering that the ammo Hellspawn used was designed to penetrate the Hellraiser's armour, which is what SPARR was supposed to have as well, none of them caused even a scratch.

Rather than return fire, SPARR instead just simply used its immense physical strength. With a simple reach of one of its arms, it crushed one of the tanks in its grip and then used it to crush another before then throwing the crushed tank into another, the impact causing everyone else to leap out of the way to avoid the crash and following debris.

Despite resuming fire though, their shots just seemed to bounce off. SPARR then raised the arm that had the unknown weapon attached to it. Some small outer arms unfolded from the end of the weapon and began to spin as a small ball of energy began forming and expanding within the arms.

Within seconds, most of the troopers closer to the AI and the other tanks felt an intense force pulling them further towards SPARR. Soon it got strong enough to the point where they ended up being pulled right off their feet and were unable to do anything at all as they were helplessly pulled into SPARR's large metal hand.

"Its got us! We can't break free!" one of them cried helplessly.

"Commander, help us! Commander!"

SPARR then deactivated the tractor beam weapon then threw all those caught in its pull with such force that it killed the troopers and destroyed the tanks.

"Fall back! Everyone inside." The Commander ordered.

The rest of Hellspawn immediately obeyed and retreated. The Commander remained with Inferno squad as they headed for the closet door. SPARR seemed to go after them directly and opened fire with its miniguns.

"Get the door open! Hurry!" Anree ordered.

Strife managed to eventually ge the door open and everyone hurried inside. Right as SPARR reached forward to try and grab one of them, the door managed to seal itself in time.

"That was too close." Long shot panted.

"Now what? How are we gonna beat this guy, Supreme Leader?" Strife asked, hoping somehow for an answer.

"If I may offer a suggestion, sir?" Calibre said. "We have anti air guns on the roof of the facility."

"A good idea." The Commander nodded, admittedly impressed with the suggestion. "We'll lure the AI outside and use the guns against it."

A nearby elevator was the quickest wat to the rood. As it began its slow ascent, they picked up a transmission on one of the comm channels. It was Hades' voice.

_"To all Hellspawn forces. We've lost all contact with the Commander and Inferno Squad and we're not picking up their signals on scanners. We shall keep attempting to find them, but we may have to consider the possibility that they have perished. Until we hear otherwise, I want everyone to report to their battle stations. Whatever happens, that AI does not leave this place at all."_

"You can dispense with the mourning, Hades. Inferno and I are still alive. Belay your previous order…" The Commander said, only for Anree to interrupt him.

"He can't hear you, Supreme Leader. There's too much interference. We'll to move higher to relay your signal."

The Commander let out a frustrated groan.

"Can this pathetic elevator not move any faster?!" he complained.

"Well, at least we've lost that dull witted AI. Not that he stood a chance against our intellect." Strife boasted.

"Uh… Sir?" Calibre said worriedly.

"What?"

The Commander turned only to suddenly see SPARR quit literally lunge at the elevator.

"WHAT?!"

It overshot and ended up taking out a piece of the upper part. At did at least cause the elevator to stop completely, the force of the sudden stop causing everyone to lose their balance.

It appeared that SPARR was able to follow the elevator by using two of its four arms to scale the walls. It four ground based wheels were simply tucked up into the lower part of its torso so they didn't just hang there.

"Wow. Even for a machine, that thing looks really angry." Long shot commented.

"Your resistance is futile, Hellspawn. Persist on this path and the only outcome you shall meet is complete termination." SPARR said.

"You think you can destroy us, SPARR?! You think can destroy Hellspawn?! Do your worst!" the Commander yelled.

SPARR it seemed accepted the challenge and fired a charged beam from its single eye. The resulting explosion shook the elevator and it began to plummet just before the beam actually touched it. The fall was brief before the elevator managed to slow and finally stop.

"We're still alive? WE'RE STILL ALIVE!" Strife said with relief. "What happened?"

SPARR's beam thought continued to slowly move down the elevator shaft towards them. They weren't out of this yet.

"Open fire on the emergency locks! Destroy them!" the Commander ordered.

Everyone immediately shot at the locks and they were quickly destroyed, causing the elevator to once more plummet until it hit the ground hard. Wreckage and debris hid them from SPARR as the AI brought itself back down to ground level, but they couldn't' remain inside.

"No disrespect, Supreme Leader… but are you crazy?!" Strife asked. "If we go out there, it'll almost certainly pulverize us."

"Would you rather face IT's wrath, OR MINE?!" the Commander retorted. "Now go!"

Managing to avoid incoming fire from SPARR, they made their way out into the open. A few Hellspawn troopers who'd been nearby suddenly spotted them.

"Commander! You're still alive. We thought you…"

They were interrupted however as SPARR suddenly pulled them into its tractor beam and simply threw them away carelessly.

"This pursuit ends here." It said.

The arm with its tractor beam attached tried to reach for them. The debris obstructed it from getting too close, but it was still enough that the tractor beam was able to pullet them.

"It's trying to grab us!" said Strife.

Soon, they lost their footing and were unable to fight against the pull as they edged further and further towards the beam's centre.

"Fire at the centre of the singularity! Quickly!" Anree ordered.

No one hesitated and all opened fire. It took quite a few shots and several unbearably tense seconds, but the gunfire managed to do its work. The resulting overload of the singularity caused further debris to fall, causing both side to lose sight of one another for now.

"We can't stay out in the open at this rate." Long shot said.

"Move back inside. Perhaps we can avoid its tracking systems." The Commander ordered.

After some time avoiding SPARR by sticking to the interiors, the second elevator they needed was just ahead. Unfortunately, SPARR obstructed their path while engaging more Hellspawn forces.

"We're pinned down!" Anree said as she, Inferno and the Commander took cover.

"Hades, do you read me?!" the Commander said, hoping that this time the signal got through.

To his and everyone else's relief, it did.

_"Commander! You're alive!"_

"Save the celebratory relief when this is over. I need an immediate distraction for the AI." The Commander.

 _"You heard him, everyone! Attack the AI!"_ Hades ordered.

More Hellspawn troopers and several more tanks soon showed up and attacked SPARR simultaneously.

"Go! Quickly!"

"Another elevator? I don't know. The last one didn't work out so well." Strife said hesitantly.

"Do not test me, Strife. My patience is running dangerously low." The Commander said calmly, but still enough anger to give Strife plenty of warning.

The Hellspawn leader then activated his comm as the elevator began to rise.

"Hades, we need to lure the AI up top and outside of the facility. The plan is to use the anti-aircraft artillery to damage its armour."

 _"Oh, of course…"_ Hades said, finally seeing what the plan was. _"As you wish, Supreme Leader. I'll make sure our forces steer it in the right direction."_

"See that you do. Commander out."

* * *

They reached the top of the facility, but the guns would need manual targeting to fire on SPARR. Anree was already hard at work, but it was taking time they didn't have.

"How much longer, Captain?" the Commander asked.

"Nearly there, sir." Anree replied.

At that moment, a familiar large metal form rose up and SPARR's gaze fell directly upon them.

"Here it comes!" Long shot said.

"Got it!" Anree finally said.

The anti-aircraft guns all activated at once and turned to face SPARR. Though the AI opened fire, the guns managed to score more hits and deal way more damage. Some parts of its armour soon became damaged and the force of multiple shell impacts and explosions began to knock it backwards. SPARR tried in vain to push back but its tyres spun hopelessly without grip and just creating smoke. One final shot then hit SPARR's head, knocking it completely off balance and it fell out of sight.

"Ha! It's going down! Eat that, rust for brains!" Strife said in victory, firing a few last shots into the drop.

"We have the advantage at last. Now, let's finish the job." The Commander said.

* * *

Once everyone had descended down, they found the vast amount of wreckage. SPARR lay among it upturned and not moving. No sign of immediate activity.

"Think it survived all that?" Strife asked.

"It won't matter either way." The Commander simply replied.

The moment he said that however, SPARR's engine suddenly roared back into life and all six of its wheels began spinning.

"Uh, sir… think we're about to get answer." Said Anree.

Once more SPARR's vehicle form began to shift and change into robot mode again.

"Power cells: drained. Initiating energy recovery subroutine."

Using its large four arms, the AI managed to get itself back upright and turned to face Hellspawn as the last of its body parts finished shifting into position. As its weapon systems reactivated as well, everyone else readied their own weapons for what they had a feeling was the equivalent of a final boss battle.

"This battle is not yet over, Hellspawn. Weapons: Engaging." SPARR said.

Immediately, its miniguns and turrets fired simultaneously and everyone quickly got to cover.

"Weapons engaging?! I thought we had this thing beat!" Strife complained.

"Watch out for its tractor beam!" Calibre yelled as the AI once again activated the weapon on its lower left arm and tried to pull them in.

Everyone managed to avoid its pull, but only just as SPARR managed to pull several stray parts of metal towards itself.

"Our weapons aren't doing anything to it!" Anree said, now sharing her second in command's annoyance.

 _"Scans indicate SPARR's defensive barrier doesn't extend to it's turrets. Try targeting those."_ Elsa advised over the comm.

With little other option everyone complied and shifted their fire to SPARR's auto turrets. To their relief it actually worked and SPARR seemed to react somewhat to the damage, almost as though it had somehow hurt it. By no means did it take SPARR offline, but it did seem to weaken the AI as it was struck with a power surge.

"Warning. Venerability in select subsystems."

As it said that, a large cylinder of some kind rose out of the floor.

"A power cell battery just came up out of the floor. Is that normal?" Strife asked in confusion.

 _"So that's how. It's using those batteries to repair himself."_ Elsa said in revelation.

"Quickly! Use the dark energy on that battery!" The Commander ordered.

Despite being well aware of the dangers of dark energy, Inferno knew better than to argue with their leader and obeyed. Calibre was closest and managed to throw a dark energy detonation pack onto the battery.  
It detonated just as SPARR pulled it in using its tractor beam. The moment it touched, the AI began spamming violently all while a vein like structure of black and dark red lightning like energy seemed to be electrocuted by it.

"Detected: system corruption. Action: Release counter virus."

"Look at that. The dark energy's breaking down it's armour. Its hurting it." Said Strife.

"Open fire now, while it's vulnerable!" The Commander ordered.

Shot after shot followed by tank shells impacted on SPARR's armour, and this time they actually caused some damage. Fuelled by the almost constant amount of kinetic energy from the bullets and explosions, the dark energy eventually overloaded in a an explosive pulse which caused SPARR to fall, supporting itself weakly with only one arm.

"It's over, SPARR. Just accept that. You can't hope to beat all of us." The Commander said.

SPARR's single red eye simply glared at the Commander, almost indicating some resemblance of anger.

"Systems: corrupted. Power level: 49%. Battle: …unfinished. Initiating repairs."

Sure enough, SPARR pushed itself back upright and resumed attacking.

"Oh come on! It's getting back up?! Now what do we do?!" Strife complained.

 _"There's a barrier of armour plating protecting it's chest. That should be where it's central core is located."_ Elsa said.

Sure enough, Hellspawn's gaze fell upon SPARR's chest, which did indeed seem damaged enough that further concentrated fire should potentially destroy it and damage SPARR further.

"And just how are we supposed to get through the armour plating?!" Strife complained, grunting slightly as the force of a nearby explosion shook him slightly.

"Stop whining and start shooting, Strife!" Anree replied, finally having had enough of her second in command's complaints.

The Commander, Inferno, and all other Hellspawn units concentrated their fire, all the while having to contend with SPARR firing back at them with full force with its rockets and mini guns. The entire wrecked chamber became even more wrecked with explosions, the booming noises being almost loud enough to deafen someone if they weren't wearing a helmet.  
Eventually, one particularly fatal round smashed SPARR's chest armour to pieces and ruptured the AI's power core. Once more, it fell onto one arm. This time though, there was no getting back up.

"Power: failing. Situation: critical." SPARR said, its speech faulty and struggling as it made a desperate reach at Inferno and the Commander. "I was almost… free…"

Those words proved to be the AI's final ones as the glow in its single eye faded and the body fell to the floor smashing hard and loud against the metal.

"It's done, Elsa." The Commander said into his comm. "I don't want this to ever happen again. As of now, we're done with AI research. Continue producing the drone soldiers, but scrap all other AI projects."

 _"As you wish, Supreme Leader."_ Elsa said.

"And make sure SPARR is completely dismantled. We're not taking any chances this time."

* * *

It felt good for Alpha to be back on Arkadia once more with a small break to enjoy after having been away in space for so long. Mostly everyone was just relaxing by either watching TV, reading datapads, Alaara and Sandra had retired to their room for some... time to themselves and Shepard was on a call with his mother and sister inviting them to Alaara's Sandra's wedding which would be coming up soon.

Conversation quickly broke the silence as Alpha began chatting about some their past missions. One particular mission however soon took the conversation down a different road as Tory especially remembered almost photographically…

"My only regret is that last mission. We were earth shatteringly... so monumentally... crap."

"It could've been worse." Kraan shrugged.

"Oh really?" Sandra asked. "Oh, let's storm the gates guns blazing" you said. Remember, the fire, Hellspawn's emergency unit, their air ambulance... **stealing** the air ambulance, the dogfight that made me completely airsick "let's crash it right into their base", the crash, the fight?"

"Let's just sweep that under the carpet already." Dash said.

"That is exactly what we were trying to do when the troopers showed up." said Troy.

"We weren't that bad. We were alright until that tank unit arrived." said Kraan.

"That was the first wave!" said Ventra.

"We got some good kills though. There was that ninja Shepard skewered with his sword. She had her mouth hanging wide open." Kraan said.

" **She** was in shock from Alaara's attire." said Austin.

"I didn't have any attire." Alaara corrected.

" **Exactly!** You'd taken it all off to have sex with Sandra."

 _"Still no regrets."_ Sandra said telepathically to Alaara who smiled in agreement.

"We're warriors. We're supposed to be professional. That one incident lowered the whole tone of that fight. Those disappearing grenades were a nightmare." Austin sighed.

"They disappeared?" Hawk asked.

"Yeah, you threw my whole belt right into the enemy's front line!" Kraan complained.

"They reappeared." Hawk shrugged.

"Yeah, they fucking threw them back!" Kraan added crossly.

"Well it was **you** that sawed their squad leader in half." Dash reminded him.

" **He** was a volunteer."

"No, **he** was trying to stop you from charging into that tank head on." Said Sandra.

"At least he died swiftly. " Kraan shrugged.

"No he didn't! You were hacking away at him with that chainsaw for several minutes. One of the troopers actually committed suicide from watching that." Sandra corrected.

"Yes I know. Well all his blood fused the electrics and the chainsaw packed up. I've always said I should use a petroleum one."

"Petrol is very dangerous." Hawk said.

"Yes, as we found out, when you crashed your motorcycle into the wreckage of the air ambulance. The whole battlefield went up in flames." said Troy.

"Made for a good light show." Dash simply shrugged.

"One thing we can at least agree on is that the mission on that desert planet last week went far better." Austin said, trying to change the tone to a more positive one.

"Definitely."

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

The planet of KAAR was almost certainly a wasteland. A vast desert planet plagued regularly by sandstorms, it sustained very little life. Despite its almost unliveable conditions though, the planet did have something of use to the rest of the galaxy, hence why it had some farmers and settlers there.

Thousands of years ago, the planet had been hit by a sun flair which turned parts of the planet's surface into glass. Over the years that followed, this glass had been grinned down into dust by the hard storms. The sun flair had also messed up the planet's magnetic field, leading to many magnetically charged rocks which posed a really big threat to ships not equipped with special tech to prevent the effects.

This drew a combination of scavengers, pirates, and even farmers to the planet, all using the various different parts of the crashed ship for their own purposes.

In this particular case, a band of sand raiders had attacked a moving outpost filled with scientists and their families whose job it was to live out on the open road on this planet and gather minerals and resources for study.

Right now, a small group of these raiders had burst into the apartment of a couple and had surrounded two of them.

"These two ripe. We take them. " one of them said in broken English.

Before any of them could act however, several of them were suddenly knocked back the de-cloaking figure of Xun.

"Back off, now." She ordered sternly.

The raiders though didn't seem fazed by this.

"Metal woman not frighten us. We kill you."

As Xun began to gently draw her katana however, a new noise coming from a neighboring room caught everyone's attention. A crying sound… more specifically that of a baby.

"Need baby as new raider. Take baby." One of the Raiders said in an evil tone.

"Over my dead body." Xun said coldly.

The Raiders all attacked simultaneously, some even throwing their pikes at Xun. The Helldiver though was able to jump high enough that she caught a hanging light and used it to provide herself with both a burst of speed and enabling her to swing over them and b e the first to the entrance to the baby's room. Sure enough, she found the infant in a cot and took it out quickly, but gently. Despite her somewhat intimidating appearance, the baby seemed to stop crying in her arms. For a brief moment, Xun was distracted by the baby's cuteness, but the sound of footsteps immediately snapped her back to reality. One of the closest raider took a swing at her, but she managed to lean back just enough that the swipe missed. Shifting the baby into her left arm and making sure to keep it close, Xun used her free right her to steady her balance. She only had a split second though before another raider swung at her with his pike. Xun managed to jump over it though and the pike passed by harmlessly under her, very nearly hitting another Raider who manged to back away, unintentionally banging against the side of the cot.

The second Xun touched back down again, she swung her foot into a kick which hit the Raider with the pike and sent him into a nearby chair which toppled over with him on it from the momentum.

Two more raiders attacked from Xun's left. With only free arm however, that limited her defence options, and she dared not draw her katana with the baby in her arms. The baby ended up with so much as scratch because of her sword, she'd never forgive herself. Also she doubted that bloodshed was good thing for an infant to be exposed to, despite that it might not even remember this. Fortunately, Xun managed to find some defence in the form of the cot as she managed to pull it between herself and the Raiders. The cot knocked into the closer one, which momentarily threw him off balance. In frustration he tried to push it out of the way. In doing so however, he ended up pushing it into the second raider that had tried to go around.

The raider with the pike that had previously be knocked down with the chair meanwhile had finally got back up and attempted an attack from the side just as the Raider pinned by the cot also pushed it away.

Xun used this opening though to then flip the cot. The suddenness of this move made the raider to her right recoil slightly just before the side of the cot knocked against his helmet. The raider in front meanwhile didn't act fast enough to get out of the way and the cot actually fell on top of him upside down with him temporarily trapped inside it. It was indeed only temporary as this wasn't a cartoon where the "baby jail" was impossible to get out of, but it gave Xun an opening to get out of the room and she took it.

The moment she exited the door, another Raider was waiting for her. He went for his weapon but Xun was faster. Using the momentum from her run she kicked the Raider hard and he was flung into a bookcase which smashed upon his impact and then ended up falling on him as he hit the floor.

One of the Raiders from the bedroom then re-joined the fight. He swung at her from behind, but she was able to whirl around in time to block the attack. As she managed to force the weapon over and out of the way, another Raider took a swing at Xun. She ducked under it though and the Raider ended up hitting one of his own. A third one made a swing with rifle but Xun countered that too using her arm. The Raider though used the momentum to then swing from the other side, only for Xun to duck under that attack which ended up hitting the Raider who'd already hit one of his own previously. With both Raider positioned almost perfectly, Xun deliver a swift kick to the closest which knocked both of them right into the wall so hard they actually dented it slightly from the impact.

Then another Raider flung a table aside and charged at her, almost screaming as he ran at her with his pike. This wasn't helped by the fact that Xun had another one coming at her from her right side.

She could deal with this, but she needed both her hands free to do so. Any attempt t do otherwise could result in possible damage or injury to her, or worse the baby.

In the end, she saw only one way to pull this off, but first she'd have to do something that was unbelievably dangerous.

"Sorry about this, Kid."

She then threw the baby up into the air. Surprisingly, the baby actually giggled slightly a this, almost as though it enjoyed the throw. Xun moved at almost lightning speed. As the Raider running at her charged, she managed to grab his pike before it touched her. Moving it to her side and out of the way, it allowed the Raider to run right into her foot which met his face with such force that he flipped head over heels. The one charging at her from the right also ended up running into a swift punch to the mask.

Just in time, she then caught the baby perfectly as he fell back down. Mercifully, the fall wasn't too hard either and there no indication whatsoever that it had hurt or upset the infant. It actually still giggled and laughed in fact.

Another Raider started throwing knives at her, one of which she just barely leaned back enough to avoid as it flew past both her and the baby and hit the window instead. The Raider downed by her previous punch meanwhile had got back up and took a swing at her with his bladed weapon. Xun though side stepped the downward swing as another knife flew at her. This time though, she managed to catch this one. As if acting on instinct, she threw the knife at the Raider still trying to swing at her with a blade. Thanks to the way she'd thrown it however, only the handle of the knife hit the raider rather than the blade part and thanks to the strength and force put behind the throw, it was enough to knock the Raider right out.

That still left the one throwing the knives in the first place though, and she couldn't dare try and get closer while still holding the baby. As more knives came flying at her, she managed to grab a nearby table to threw it up as a kind of shield, more for the baby's protection rather than hers. Eventually, the Raider ran out of knives. As he and other Raider ran at her, Xun gave the table a swift kick which caused it to smash apart and the debris to crash into one of them.

The second one however, managed to avoid the table and fired a harpoon at Xun, which she only just managed to avoid as she leant back. She ended up upturning another smaller table as she did and another harpoon narrowly missed her helmet as she got back on her feet.

Another further two followed, which Xun managed to avoid, nearly knocking over a lampshade as she did. By that time however, the Raider had run out of harpoons. He made a charge at her with his pike, but she managed to jump over him.

"Here, take this." She said, handing the baby to its mother.

"Thank you." The woman said in tearful happiness.

With both hands free, Xun drew her katana and turned back to the Raider. The raider attacked first, with Xun blocking all of his attacks. The brief sword fight ended up being very short before she managed to disarm him and her sword was pointed right at his throat.

"Metal woman... fight good." He said fearfully.

"You're just lucky that baby's here." Xun said, right before she punched the sand raider across the jaw and knocked him out cold. She then turned to the family. "Come on. Let's get you someplace safe."

* * *

As the rest of the Alpha made their way through the tight corridors, they split up to cover more ground and hopefully flush out and deal with more raiders more quickly.

Austin himself went alone and soon spotted a single Raider that was heading to the living areas. He raised his gun immediately and the Raider stopped as he heard the sound of the gun ready to fire and in turn noticed its flashlight on him.

"Turn around!" Austin ordered.

As the Raider turned, he then suddenly broke into a run. Austin reacted immediately and fired a shot which caught the Raider's left shoulder. Fighting through the pain though, the Raider continued his intended attack and attempted to trip Austin by going for his leg. Austin raised his leg though and the Raider's hand caught nothing but thin air. Rolling back into his feet, the Raider quickly went for Austin's rifle and grabbed it. He attempted to elbow Austin in the stomach, but the Helldiver blocked it with his left arm. The two struggled for a moment before Austin managed to head-butt the Raider which made his attacker stagger back for a moment. In doing so however the Raider managed to pull the gun out of Austin's' hands. Immediately, the Raider grabbed onto Austin's right arm to stop him from reaching for his pistol. The left arm was free though and got off a punch to the Raider's face. Sacrificing one hand on his hold however, the Raider managed to grab the Helldiver's pistol first. He pulled the Helldiver round in hopes of shooting him in the back, but Austin used the momentum to fling himself back around and block an incoming punch from the pistol. A swift punch of his own to the stomach took the air out of the Raider's lungs. As the Raider was left winded by the punch, Austin quickly snatched the pistol back and kicked the Raider's lower torso hard enough that it made him fall flat onto his front. The Raider only had a moment to get on his knees before he found himself looking down the barrel of Austin gun. Without hesitating, the Helldiver pulled the trigger. The Raider jarred for a moment as the bullet pierced his mask and skull, then went completely limp and fell on his back as blood began to pool under his head.

"These guys fight well close quarters. I'll give them that much." Austin said to himself.

* * *

Alaara wrestled furiously with one of the raiders as both grappled at the Helldiver's assault rifle. In the melee that had preceded this, Alaara had managed to sever the Raider's pike with her rifle's knife attachment, but that hadn't stopped her opponent from still trying to win.

Eventually, the Asari got the upper hand and manged to force the raider against the wall. Forcing her rifle to the left, she forced the raider with it and he was thrown onto the hard metal floor. Alaara raised her gun to deliver the killing shot, but before she could pull the trigger another raider suddenly attacked from behind, coming to the other's aid.

He managed to get a hold of her and tried to push her into the wall, but she was able to use her left hand to stop herself and push back. With her right arm, still with the assault rifle in her hand, she elbowed the raider in the stomach. It wasn't quite enough to shake the raider off her though and he ended up swinging a clenched fist downwards and knocked the assault rifle out of her hand. He then swung again into a lunge at Alaara's torso, but she blocked that one with her left hand and she head-butted him with her helmet. The blow cracked the raider's mask and left him clearly disoriented. In his confusion, the raider unintentionally managed to pin her against the wall by the neck. Alaara quickly broke the neck lock though with a right hook to the face, followed by a left and then a kick to the raider's stomach. Bruised and winded, the raider just managed to land a kick on Alaara that made her lose her balance. As the Helldiver briefly fell to one knee she suddenly spotted her assault rifle lying in front of her. Wasting no time, she scooped it off the floor and stood back up. And just in time too. The other raider she'd previously been wrestling with had got back up and went to try and attack. Alaara pulled the trigger without hesitation and a short control burst of bullet blew the Raider head open in a small spurt of blood. The other raider attempted the same only for Alaara to shoot him the shoulder and he fell to his knees, his left arm barely supporting him as the other went to his wound. He barely had a moment though before the Asari then kicked him onto his back.

"Got you, motherfucker."

And with that, she finished him with a shot to the head.

* * *

The Raider's chief had reached the main engine room for the giant platform. This was often his preferred way to truly cripple the platform. Cut off the engines, leave them stranded then take whatever they wanted. In this particular case, they were going to take the whole damn thing this time. The farmers had raised the stakes by bringing these metal beings into the fold. Right as he was about to cut power to the engine however, he suddenly heard footsteps and turned to see Troy and Hawk enter the room, their guns trained on him.

"DON'T MOVE!" Hawk ordered.

"Why bother, Metal Men?" he asked rhetorically in the same broken English as all the others. "This not your home. This not your family."

"Our mission is to protect the innocent, and we always accomplish our mission." Hawk replied.

"And clan mission: save clan from extinction." The chief snarled back. "Only one succeed."

Knowing where this was going, Hawk didn't even hesitate and shot first. The shot hit its target in the Chief's right shoulder, but he still managed to knock Hawk to the floor.

Troy immediately came to Hawk's aid though and tried to melee the chief with his rifle. The Chief managed to grab it and the two struggled against each other for a moment. A surprising burst of strength from the chief forced the rifle against Troy's helmet which momentarily knocked him back slightly. Sandra, who'd suddenly joined after hearing gunfire from outside, tried to aim her rifle. The Chief just managed to act fast enough though that he forced Troy into her. It only knocked her aside for a moment, but it did at least now cast Troy in her line of fire. As she took aim, she kept trying to find some way around Troy without accidently hitting him. At this close range there was a real danger of her shot piercing his armour.

Troy managed to force the chief over enough that Sandra had a clear shot, but it was short lived when the Chief managed to force Troy's rifle up which hit Sandra's and made her stumble slightly. The struggle continued, but only for a moment before Troy finally managed to head-butt the chief and shake him off completely. In doing so however, the spy lost his balance and was momentarily downed.

The chief quickly turned to Sandra who'd once again taken aim. Before she could fire however, he grabbed her gun. Despite her strength though, Sandra struggled to shake him off and all the time he managed to shake her up so much she lost grip of her rifle which he used to smack her helmet in an upper cut, momentarily knocking her out for maybe a few brief seconds.

Hawk, having finally gotten back up, went for the attack. The chief swung at him with Sandra's rifle, but it missed as the Helldiver Ranger ducked. As the swing missed its target he chief attempted to turn it into a lunge. Hawk though parried it with his own rifle, returning it with a hard smash to the chief's helmet which knocked the Raider to his knees.

"That's what you get for trying to fuck with us, asshole."

Right as he was about to pull the trigger however, two more Raiders joined the fray, one male and one female. Hawk was knocked down before he knew what hit him and the two Raiders helped their chief back up.

"Clan, retreat!" he ordered.

As the three Raiders fled from the engine room, Troy Sandra and Hawk quickly got back up and gave chase.

"Shepard, they're trying to run!" Sandra said into the comms.

 _"Don't let them escape or they'll be back for more!"_ Austin said.

The chase went down a long hallway, at the end of which was an opening in the side of the platform where the Raiders intended to escape.

Not willing to let them get a chance, Sandra managed to fire a shot which grazed the leg of the female Raider and she momentarily fail. The other ad already got a few metres ahead when they turned back.

"Chief must leave. Can do nothing for her." The other male said.

The Chief though didn't agree with this, given that female was his lover. Picking up a random piece of metal that was lying nearby, the Chief used that as a shield against the Helldiver's bullets as they advanced. One shot though caught him in his already injured shoulder, adding to the pain he was already experiencing from that wound. Still though he kept at it until he was close. He threw the piece of metal over to the female Raider as he kept making his way to her, despite another shot grazing the left side of his torso and drawing blood.

The female manged to grab the piece of metal and held it up in front of her, shielding herself from more incoming fire. The Chief then charged into Hawk and Sandra, using the wall to get a jump punch in on them, but Hawk it seemed reacted a bit too fast for him and fired off his weapon. One more, another shot pierced the chief, but he fought through the pain and elbowed the side of Hawk's helmet. He then pressed the attack on Sandra, once gain grabbing her rifle. This time though, Sandra willingly let go of the rifle as she backed away to avoid the Chief's swinging punch at her. She then reached for her pistol which the chief only just managed to grab as she fired a shot which barely missed his head. Before Sandra had time to process that the bullet had missed, he suddenly pulled on the pistol still in her hands and then manged to use it to punch Sandra, knocking the Helldiver onto her back.

She quickly got back up though and delivered a swift uppercut which caught the chief and knocked him against the wall. He tried to kick her, but she blocked the attack and then delivered another wide right hook which hit the Chief square on and knocked him right to the floor, momentarily knocked at she had originally been prior.

"CHIEF!" the female yelled helplessly.

Sandra immediately noticed he female trying to get back up and immediately picked up her rifle. The loud noise echoed through the hallway as Sandra shot the female right in the head.

A second shot suddenly followed, but this one didn't come from Sandra. Instead, it came from the male Raider who'd stayed back until now. The shot didn't pierce Sandra's armour, but unfortunately it did hit one of her helmet's optical eyes. With Sandra now partly blind and unable to see her helmet's visual feed properly, it gave the downed Chief an opening and he quickly got back up onto his feet and ran back to the opening, waiting only for the male to re-join him. The male however pressed the attack as more of Alpha quickly arrived.

"Supressing fire!" Austin ordered as he, Telrass, Hawk and Troy opened fire.

The male though scooped up the piece of metal that had been used previously and used it to provide cover from the incoming bullets. He managed to slam it into Troy when he got close enough, but he didn't react fast enough to counter the Helldiver's retaliating punches. Hawk opened fire, but the male Raider managed to use Troy as a second shield, the bullet bouncing of his armour. With a big push, he shoved Troy into Hawk's path and the two Helldivers collided with each other. He managed to pick up Hawk's assault rifle as Austin advanced, but the Helldiver got off several shots which all hit him in the torso. The Raider powered on through though and hit Austin in the head, which knocked him aside.

That only left Telrass. He managed to use the assault rifle to knock the Turian's to one side, but she quickly drew her pistol and landed a clear shot in the Raider's shoulder. He attempted to raise his rifle to her but she blocked it with her own and fired another shot from her pistol, this time directly into the Raider's chest. No strength left to fight and now bleeding to death, the Raider fell to his knees in front of Telrass who finished him with a shot to the head.

In grief and in anger, the Chief wanted so much to attack, but he was already greatly injured and now also outnumbered. Escape was now the only option for him. As he tried to run however, Troy, still on the floor, managed to quickly aim with his rifle and fired a single shot which hit the Chief right in the knee, shattering the bone completely and causing him to fall to the floor.

Soon Dash and the rest of Alpha had him surrounded. Dash especially had his gun aimed right at the chief's head.

"No sequel for you, you Tusken Raider rip offs." He said coldly.

And with those last words, he shot the Chief directly in the forehead.

* * *

Ventra though was the only one not relaxing.

"Has anyone seen Leena? Haven't been able to find her all day." he asked.

"Last time I saw her I think she was going to her workshop." Telrass replied.

Now that Ventra thought about it, it made a lot of sense. Leena was often known to disappear into her workshop for long periods. Admittedly though, she'd never been in there this long. It'd had been a full day and nearly two at this rate.

"What's she working on this time, I wonder?" the Turian asked rhetorically.

Before anyone could try and guess however, a light sound caught everyone's attention. Dash immediately switched off the television as everyone looked in the direction of the sound. To everyone's surprise, they found a quadcopter drone hovering near the ceiling of their apartment. Such a sight wasn't quite such a shock to them given that the Helldivers often used quadcopter drones. But this particular drone looked rather different compared to the ones they were used to.

It appeared larger than the standard Helldiver quadcopter drone. It also didn't actually have any rotor blades. Instead were 4 empty circles, connected to the main body by small arms. The circles appeared to be providing some kind of thrust which was what was allowing the drone to fly. The body itself was quite angular with straight lines, almost like a stealth fighter. The main nose pointed outwards slightly. On the back was a short tail with two fins on the back, most likely to provide a bit of extra stability. The drone's main camera meanwhile was hanging underneath the nose and in front of the lower body. Forward enough that nothing obstructed its view, and far back enough that the camera wasn't out in the open. Its colour scheme was the same familiar metallic grey that other Helldivers had, save for a few lights dotted around the body, the front and near the camera and its circular engines, glowing a dimmed but noticeable purple.

"Uh, guys..." Alexa said with concern.

"This isn't one of ours..." Troy said, sounding just as cautious.

The drone allowed itself to descend slightly until it was closer to everyone, staring right at them. It then spoke in a deep voice.

"SURRENDER! OR BE DESTROYED!"

Reacting as if on instinct, everyone tried to find a gun. Dash even picked up the TV remote and tried to throw it at the drone only for the remote to completely miss as the drone moved to the side and then flew right at Dash's head. The scout let out a slight scream as he dodged under the drone as it flew over him and missed his head. It then turned to once again face everyone.

"Just kidding, guys." it suddenly said, only this time the voice as completely different. Female and surprisingly familiar...

"Leena?" Ventra said in surprise as everyone else froze upon hearing that.

At that moment, Leena herself emerged from her workshop. Her omni tool was active and was showing a holo screen that appeared to be displaying the apartment exactly as the drone would be seeing it from its point of view. Sure enough, the drone then flew over to her and began simply hovering close to her head. It didn't take a genius to figure out now that Leena was the one controlling the drone.

"So this is what you've been working on?" Austin said observantly. "No offence, but... don't we already have a drone?"

"Not like this one. This one is VERY different." Leena replied.

As she spoke, the drone idly flew in circles around the apartment.

"High A/V, stealth systems, programmable for autonomous observation, chemical sniffers, advanced sensor suites, early warning defence nodes, and all with sync capabilities to our suits. If the drone sees something, we see it. And if one of us sees something, that data is shared with the drone and it relays that exact same data to us in real time. Quiet and super smart. Just like its designer." Leena explained.

No one could deny, that was an impressive gadget list. Far more extensive than a normal Helldiver drone. If it hadn't been clear before it was certainly clear now this drone was special.

"Have to say, Leena, this is damn impressive. Hell, every Helldiver should use one like this." said Troy.

"Well, if this one work for us long term, the Arkanes say they'll consider making more. I already had to tell them I made this, otherwise they'd become suspicious of an unidentified drone." said Leena.

"Good. Cool as this is, I'd hate for us to get into trouble because of it." Austin agreed.

"Anything else it can do?" Telrass asked with interest.

"How long have you got?" Leena replied with an intriguing smile under her quarian visor.

"Right now... we're all ears. Tell us everything." Austin replied, sharing Telrass' interest in the drone's full list of capabilities.

"I thought you'd never ask." Leena said. She issued a command into her omni tool and the drone once again returned to her side, hovering slightly above and to the left of her head. "Right now, the drone's in manual mode and being controlled by me, hence the purple light."

She then deactivated her omni tool and simply looked at the drone.

"Recon mode."

Surprisingly, the drone seemed to respond to her command. Its previously purple lights now changed to green.

"The green light is recon mode where the drone operates autonomously. It'll recon and scan the environment for any hostiles or potential dangers, all well within a safe distance from the enemy." Leena explained.

Once again, anew command followed.

"Stealth mode."

The lights changed once again, this time to blue. Everyone only just noticed though before they were left surprised as the drone cloaked and nearly vanished from view. A faint outline of its camouflaged appearance could still be seen, but to the casual it was as good as invisible.

"The blue light is stealth mode, mostly the same is recon mode, but the drone now operates even more silently and also cloaks to avoid detection. Ideally, this mode is meant for if we need to get in close to the point where visual detection is impossible to avoid. Has to be used wisely as well as the cloak has to run off a battery separate to its power source and that doesn't last long when in use." Leena continued. "Now things get interesting. Sentry mode."

The drone uncloaked and its lights changed again. This time to orange and a previously hidden small gun slid down from a compartment on the drone's underbelly. It also began to look from left to right as if scanning the area.

"Orange light is sentry mode. The name pretty much says it all. Guards a spot, alerts us of any hostile activity and neutralizes or incapacitates them, depending on our preference."

Another command then followed. "Combat mode."

This time the lights changed to an almost angry red and it now looked in multiple directions at an incredibly fast speed as if it was expecting an attack any second.

"Red light means combat mode where the drone will engage enemies, ideally from a safe distance. Once again, operates autonomously and will do what it can to avoid enemy fire. Weapons are capable of both lethal and non-lethal attacks."

Leena then once again activated her omni tool and the drone immediately switched back to its purple light manual mode without her having to speak and the small gun retracted back up into the main body. She then let it slowly descend until it was nearly touching the ground.

"And last but not least, Ground mode."

This mode proved very different as the lights deactivated altogether as did the rotors. Touching the ground, the circular engines then rotated until they touched the floor, essentially becoming wheels as the arms attaching the engines to the main body lowered the body down until it almost hugged the ground without touching it. The tail at the back also retracted into the body and the tail fins folded into one.

"Should conditions call for it, the drone can switch to a ground based mode. Ideally, it's good for sneaking in vents, but you never know when other circumstances might call for it." Leena explained.

As a little demonstration she had the drone drive backwards and forwards, do a few turns and also demonstrated its ability to strafe due the wheels being capable of making a full 360 degree turn due to the mounting points being on the top.

"Arial mode."

The drone unfolded back into its previous form and returned to the height it had been hovering at previously.

"You've certainly outdone yourself, Leena." Alexa smiled.

"Had a feeling you'd say that." Leena said proudly. "Return."

Obeying her command, the drone then flew right over to her until it was nearly right beside her head. It hovered for a moment then touched down on her left shoulder, folded up again and slotted itself perfectly into a special mounting point on the Quarian's armour that Alpha hadn't noticed till now.

"All it needs now is a name." Leena said.

"You're gonna name it?" Troy asked, slightly surprised.

"Why not? I've known plenty of other Quarians who name their drones. Granted, those are holographic tech drones, but still..." Leena shrugged.

"Wait, I've got it!" Dash said. "The perfect name... THUNDERWING DOOMSLAYER."

Everyone couldn't' help but chuckle slightly and shake their heads at the name. It was clear also Dash hadn't been serious and just said it as a joke. When he noted however that Leena hadn't reacted to it at all he immediately reassured her.

"Don't worry, Leena. I was only joking."

"Actually, that's not bad." the Quarian then said, much to everyone's surprise and shock.

"Wait, what?!"

"It sounds cool and badass, and hey, why the hell not? I made it after all, I can it whatever I like. And right now, I **would** like to call it Thunderwing Doomslayer. Anyone got a problem with that?" Leena asked.

"If that's what you want to call it, we won't stop you." Austin shrugged.

He was still a little bit surprised that Leena was going along with a comedic name that Dash had suggested, especially given that such a name was usually comedic ally given to things that ended up being useless and unreliable. But then again, he could also understand her reasons. Despite the comedic nature, it was still a cool name and she was also right. Why the hell not? And of course, it was her drone.

Leena gently detached the drone from her shoulder and then used her omni tool to essentially print the words Thunderwing Doomslayer onto the right side of the drone's exterior.

"Don't worry. You won't have to say that out in field. It's more just for the exterior." she explained. She then reactivated the drone and let it fly again. "One more test I just need to do..."

She switched the drone to combat mode and then typed a command into her omni tool. The drone's focus fell on Troy and it stared right at him.

"INSTANT KILL: ACTIVATED!"

The drone then began to advance on Troy, who couldn't' help but back away nervously. Leena though was quick to intervene.

"Whoa! Whoa! No! No! Stand down!"

The drone obeyed and returned to the default recon mode.

"Okay... that still needs some work." she admitted.

"And I'd actually appreciate it if you didn't use us test subjects." Troy said, regaining his composure.

"Yes, I think you're right." Leena nodded. "Can't promise I won't resist the temptation to test a few things on Dash though."

"Note to self, never give Leena ideas again." Dash said quietly.

* * *

"Sir!"

"At ease troopers." Hades said.

Inferno Squad did so and relaxed somewhat. The Commander then turned to face them.

"Captain Anree. You and the rest of Inferno squad performed most admirably during the AI's escape attempt." He said.

The Captain simply nodded and replied modestly.

"Thank you, Supreme Leader."

"You are probably wondering why I have asked you here though. As I said to you once before, General Hades speaks highly of you and believes you have the potential to the best. As promised, you have not disappointed. The General even believes that you deserve commendation for your recent victories. That you deserve to rise higher through the ranks." The Commander went on.

Inferno Squad cast a few looks at each other, almost as if expecting themselves to be rewarded handsomely for their work so far. The Commander's next sentence however was not what they expected.

"I disagree however."

None of them showed it, but the squad were disappointed to hear this. The Captain especially wanted to argue on their behalf. At the very least, the others deserved some recognition, if not herself.

As the Commander continued however, things began to take a different turn.

"Your recent victories are not worthy of such a small reward alone. No. I now see the potential that Hades sees. Therefore, I believe a more significant commendation is in order. Captain, I wish for Inferno squad to be my personal strike force on the field. I have my bodyguards, but I cannot depend on them alone to protect me. I need more than just machines, I want humans I can trust at my side who share my ideals. You have shown me you are deserving of that. As my strike force, you will have access to some of the best weapons and technology we have, you answer to no other officer in Hellspawn but me and my lieutenants, save Thornton Arma. Assignments given to you will be some of the most significant and important ones, and above all you will have my trust, something that is not given lightly or easily."

The Squad were now both surprised and speechless. To be offered something like this from the Commander himself… They couldn't deny though, there was some apprehension as well. Were they really up to this? The Commander seemed to notice this.

"Of course, that is assuming your squad wishes to accept. I have no intention of forcing this on them. And I should warn you now, serving as my personal Strike Force will be anything but easy. I give you the best, but in return I expect the best from you. There is little room for failure and I do not forgive easily."

Captain Anree took a moment to see if her squad had any objections, but she saw none. They all seemed prepared to accept, as was she.

"We would be honoured, Supreme Leader. We will carry out your will, or die trying." She said.

If the Commander was still capable of smiling under his helmet, he definitely would have. He looked forward to seeing what Inferno Squad would be able to accomplish in their new position.

"I am counting on it."

* * *

**I may return to update this chapter at some point as I had a to cut a few bits in order to make a deadline.**

**The next chapter hopefully won't be to long of a wait either, so I will see you then. :)**


	24. Chapter 24, Bondmates Now & Forever

**Greetings, everyone. Trust I haven't kept you waiting for too long. :)**

**A lot has certainly happened these past few** **months, and I hope all of you are well during the difficult times we currently face with this whole virus crisis. So here's hoping my new chapter provides some alleviation while we wait out this storm.** **Been a while since the last one, I know, but I definitely feel its been time well spent.**

**ALSO, some other news that some of you might find interested, after 8 years I finally got back to playing ME3 again, and this time I had A TONNE of mods installed to improve the experience, and boy was it so much better. We've already had the Happy Ending and Citadel Epilogue for years now, but what really convinced me to finally go back was a mod that now makes Shepard not get injured during the ending. That was always the last piece of the puzzle to fixing the end for me.**

**Couple that with a mod that removes the nightmares completely and other improvements like EGM... and you get ME3 as it truly should've been, and at long last my depression is finally gone completely. For the first time in 8 years, I am free. As Samara once said "I am a ruined vessel of sorrow and regret, but I am free. It is not a feeling I can describe."**

**I certainly feel very reinvigorated as well, and given also how we're getting close to the end of this fic, hopefully I can say in confidence, progress on future chapters should improve.**

**Right, I've talked enough. Time to enjoy the chapter. Some warning, this chapter is very heavy with sex scenes.**

* * *

**YEAR 8, Turning Point**

**2180: 8 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**7 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_" Alaara and Sandra's wedding day. For once, a crucial point in our lives where everything went well, according to plan and it was a genuinely happy occasion. One I'll never forget..."_

* * *

**Chapter 24**

**Bondmates Now and Forever**

After many months, the day had finally arrived for Alaara and Sandra's wedding. The preparations leading up to it had been a busy time for all of Alpha. Despite that Alaara's parents had provided the necessary budget, that still didn't mean the job was any easier. Leena especially who had accepted the job of handling the electrics and the lighting had been driven almost to the point of frustration by it all. The fact that this was the wedding of two of their closest friends already put a lot of pressure on everyone. Also they really did want this to be completely perfect. After nearly an entire day of setting up the lighting, managing the cables and sorting all the electrics out, the Quarian looked just about ready to have a violent outburst.

Currently, she was in the process of setting up the very last wire for the lighting.

"I dread to imagine someone less qualified trying to do this." she sighed with some relief.

Her moment of finally starting to relax though was short lived before she ran into several tangles in the cable which was pretty much the last straw for her.

"They probably wouldn't have even got past the first light... WHO FUCKED UP WITH THIS BLOODY THING?!"

She threw the cable right onto the floor hard in frustration.

"Boshtets! This thing's gonna be fucking recorded as well!"

Austin could only sigh as Leena let out her anger. As if this morning hadn't been bad enough...

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

Earlier this morning...

Hawk had been given the job of baking the cake and seeing to the food. So far, all had gone extremely well. The main cake was all finished, the main meals were nearly done and the starters and dessert were well on the way. It was as the Helldiver took the top of a tin however that he got a surprise that was either welcome or unwelcome depending on preferences.

As the lid was removed from the tin, the head of an animal roughly the size of a cat popped out.

Anyone who lived on Arkadia for a long time knew a Vosharr when they saw one, or in this case a baby Vosharr.

The Vosharr were a quadruped race native to Arkadia just as the Arkanes were. At their full size, Vosharr were as tall as Elephants and had the length of a twenty foot shark from head to tail. Their faces resembled that of the skull of a horse lined with teeth and possessed long manes long enough to reach all the way down to their shoulders along with a lengthy amount of hair tendrils on the end of their tails. Despite their massive and ferocious appearance, and despite that they were natural predators, Vosharr were an incredibly gentle race. Wild ones for example would often ignore sentient bipeds unless provoked. Apparently it was do with the fact that Arkanes didn't have enough meat on them and also had a taste that was unpleasant to a Vosharr.

Tame Vosharr meanwhile had been used by the Arkanes as mounts for hundreds of years their speed, agility, strength, resilience and intelligence making them not just a perfect mount but also a good companion as well, being intelligent and sentient enough to understand the Arkane language.

Baby Vosharr however were quite the troublemakers. Being so small, they could fit into a lot of small pieces and had a tendency to try and explore an awful lot being so curious in their young age. Even Alpha had experienced some trouble with them. For some unknown reason, a recent litter of pups kept finding ways into the kitchen every so often. For some, it was a cute surprise. To Hawk though, it was an absolute nightmare since he had to deal with all of them and they always made a mess of the kitchen that he had to clear up.

The moment the pup in the tin spotted him, it reacted immediately and suddenly jumped right over his head. In reflex, Hawk ducked to avoid it and ended up losing sight of the pup. As he began looking around, hoping to find it again, he became acutely aware of a sound coming from the biscuit tin. Hawk had a feeling he knew what he was going to find inside and lifted the lid off.

Sure enough, three more Vosharr pups were nibbling away at the biscuits and cookies. They froze and their eyes widened in alarm however as they found they'd been caught in the act.

Ha

As Hawk started to reach for them, with the intention of picking them up and getting them out of the kitchen, all three of the pups suddenly flung a combination of biscuits and cookies into his face using their tails. With Hawk momentarily disoriented by this, all the pups ran into the fridge. Hawk was just able to notice this though and picked up a wooden spoon. Holding it up ready to use if need be he slowly walked to the fridge. Tensing himself in preparation, he gently took hold of the fridge handle. Pulling open the fridge with a fast hard pull, he was about to swing when he suddenly found the fridge completely empty save for a small bowl with nothing in it.

Hawk was left in complete bewilderment for a few moments before he realized what might unfortunately might be about to happen. Very slowly he turned to look at the inside of the fridge door. He barely got a glance before more than 10 Vosharr pups all pounced on him.

Telrass gave a slight yawn as she exited her room. It was a big day ahead after all and she'd be very surprised if later tonight didn't end up being very long.

As she descended the stairs however, she began to dozens of loud banging and crashing noises coming from the kitchen.

Alexa, who was already up, heard them as well.

"Oh dear. Sounds like another Vosharr litter got into the kitchen again." she said.

"That's the third one this month." said Telrass.

Further noises that followed included those made by Hawk as he struggled against all the pups.

"Get off! Get off! Come here, you little buggers! No. No! Put that down!"

The metallic noise a frying pan hitting then followed. Things soon seemed to quiet down for a moment before the kitchen door flung open and stepped with all ten of the pups in his hands, holding them up by the scruff the neck.

He was momentarily stopped though when one of their tails whacked him in the crotch. This in turn caused all the pup's to emit an almost happy laugh like noise as Hawk groaned in further frustration.

Holding back a violent outburst, Hawk simply stormed over to the door, managed to open it and began putting the baby Vosharr on the ground while also trying to shoo them out of the door.

"Out! Just get out! And you, out! Out!"

Finally, the last pup ran out and Hawk slammed the door shut in exhaustion. He finally spoke after a few seconds of getting his breath back.

"I know they're cute, but if they keep breaking into the kitchen, I may not be able to control my temper." he panted.

Telrass and Alexa simply did their best to suppress a giggle. Alexa especially found Vosharr pups adorable, something that wasn't necessarily shared by the rest of her comrades.

* * *

Returning back to the present, Leena had managed to calm down and was now fitting the last cable. She'd also hit herself over the head after realizing she could use her drone to assist. She'd called herself an idiot for not thinking of that sooner.

"That about everything? Don't mean to rush you, but we've only 4 more hours, and the invites will start arriving soon." Austin asked.

"It's all taken care of now, Shepard." Leena replied.

As she said that, her drone flew up to her, carrying the end of a cable underneath it which she gently took from the quad-copter.

"Thank you, Thunderwing. Good boy."

She even gave the drone a light pat as well, as though it were an animal.

"You've got a weird relationship with technology. You know that right?" Austin commented.

"He didn't mean that." Leena said cooingly, giving the drone a gentle stroke.

Austin once again began replaying the little speech he was soon going to give over and over in his head multiple times. And not just any speech. This was essentially going to be the speech that declared Alaara and Sandra a completely married couple.

This had come about from Alaara and Sandra choosing him personally to be the one to conduct the ceremony. His mind couldn't help but go back to when the two had asked him.

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

"Seriously?"

Still Austin was not 100% sure if he'd heard right. They genuinely wanted him to be the one that married them?

"We're deadly serious." Sandra nodded. "We can think of no better person."

"Sandra and I talked about this while we were showering together… naked." Alaara said with a naughty smile.

"Right…"

Sandra was quick to give her fiancee a serious look. Alaara simply shrugged and didn't press the matter further.

"But why me? I would've thought there were better candidates." Austin asked.

"You're our leader and our friend." Sandra explained. "I did think about you asking to be the best man, but to be brutally honest I've got someone else in mind for that. Besides, Alaara kind of had the idea that you could do the ceremony in full armor and sword."

Austin was somewhat surprised by this and cast her a questioning look.

"Seriously?"

Both women simply nodded.

Despite that this had rather come out of nowhere, Austin saw little reason to say no. After all, it wasn't every day that you get asked to perform the wedding ceremony of your closest friends. Besides, how hard could it be?

* * *

Many hours passed as the final preparations were pretty much complete. Leena had finally sorted out all the lights, they'd replaced a crate after she'd punched a hole right through it to let out her frustration, Hawk had finally arrived with the wedding cake and all the rest of the food which the catering staff were sorting out, and all the guests were now arriving.

Both Alaara and Sandra had decided they didn't want a really big fancy wedding. And they didn't want massive crowds of people they didn't know. Thus, the guest list was relatively small, family and invited friends only. The ceremony itself was relatively private as well to avoid too much attention.

Naturally, Alaara's parents had been one of the first to arrive.

Alpha had heard Alaara speak of her parents often, but even those stories didn't seem to do the two Asari pornstars justice.

Alaara's father, Sooleeia T'onrack appeared to be the… more developed of the two. Certainly the dress she was wearing had a lot of cleavage exposed, and it was kind of obvious she had some kind of dampening feel in effect. Most likely an attempt to reduce unwanted attention. She also had a fair amount of face markings unlike Alaara who only used those for disguises. In contrast to her blue skin, Sooleeia's white tattoos almost covered all of her face, and if the parts of her body exposed by her dress were anything to go on, they were on a lot of her body too.

Alaara's father meanwhile, Kavarda, while not quite as big as her wife in the upper body department, was still just as well built and still more than well endowed, even for an Asari. If anything, she looked as though she was the fitter of the two as well, possessing a slightly broader and leaner build, and a decent amount of muscle that looked quite firm under her blue skin. Alaara had mentioned in the past that one of her parents had originally been a commando before changing careers.

Despite that it would've been considered rude, Alpha were unable to resist looking down the Asari's figure. Alaara had actually given them some warning about this. Apparently one of the things here parents had become famous for in their porn career was portraying Kavarda as a futa Asari through the use of a special kind of strap on which for all intents and purposes looked and felt exactly like a real cock with no visible straps at all. Since it was said to reach all the way down to her knees, it was impossible to hide with clothing and unfortunately Kavarda had a tendency to wear nearly all the time, even when she and her bond mate weren't filming at all.

Thus Alaara had made them promise that if she was still wearing it, they would do all they can to persuade Sooleeia to get her bond mate to remove it.

Mercifully though there no bulge or any indication she had something under her dress. It would seem she had listened to her daughter's pleas.

"Welcome, Matriarchs." Austin said modestly, giving a slight bow of his head. "Alaara's told us much about you."

To his surprise, Sooleeia offered out her hand. Though initially confused by the gesture, he quickly caught on what the Asari was expecting. He gently took it in his hands and planted a light kiss on it, which was met with an indirectly seductive smile from the two bondmates.

Austin had a feeling they'd done that on purpose. Perhaps Alaara had told them all about him, and how he often had a way with the ladies. The Helldiver tried his best though to no think on that matter further. It was true, he had a thing for Asari, but two matriarchs… even he couldn't possibly get that lucky. Besides, what would Nyara think? And what would Alaara think, for that matter?

Austin however mentally slapped himself for asking that question. If he knew Alaara, she'd probably not object at all. Hell, she'd probably encourage it, perhaps even try to join in.

The response from Sooleeia though finally allowed him to put all thoughts aside and focus on the present.

"It's a pleasure, Commander Shepard. Alaara's told us much about you too." She said. Her attention then turned to Alpha as well. "And your squad also."

The rest of Alpha all exchanged greetings with the two Asari. Surprisingly, even Dash behaved himself. Right at the last moment however, he seemed unable to take his eyes off Sooleeia's cleavage.

"Eyes up here, young man." Kavarda said, clicking her fingers which snapped the scout out of it.

"Sorry, I just…"

"Save it for the after party." She then winked suggestively, now showing that actually she didn't mind after all.

* * *

Another addition was Austin's parents who he'd been allowed to invite.

Both hugged their son warmly immediately. The rest of Alpha saluted in the presence of a Helldiver general. This was hardly their first time meeting Matt, having worked with once before when evacuating liberated human slaves from batarians. Nevertheless, they still knew to show respect to a Helldiver general and the father of their "fearless leader"

Then a third figure seemed to join. A woman of about Austin's height with neck length red hair and decently muscly build in a long dark red dress strode up to him.

The Helldiver smiled upon seeing his younger sister after so long.

"Sarah!"

The two immediately seemed to swing their hands towards one another and then grasped each other as though in an arm wrestle, then they actually did try to overpower one another. Austin, being the visibly stronger of the two had the lead almost immediately. Sarah Shepard though was still putting up some decent resistance.

"Wow. She's strong." Dash said in both confusion and surprise. "I know Shepard's out of his armor, but…"

"You do know he and his sister are genebloods, right?" Hawk asked.

Dash didn't need an explanation for that, and quickly nodded in realization.

"Ah. I see."

For the two Shepard siblings, this arm wrestle of their ways actually derived from a Helldiver greeting, something their father had taught them. From as early as they could remember, their father had personally taught them how to fight and defend themselves. By no means was this some kind of conditioning, nor had he been grooming them from birth to be Helldivers like him. This was simply a tradition that the Helldivers had inherited from the Arkanes. They themselves also trained their children how to fight. Though not compulsory, or a custom by any means, it was something that was both recommended and encouraged. The whole purpose of training them to fight from a young age was designed to help encourage the young to be fit and strong as early as possible, and also to decrease the likelihood of them becoming cowardly in later years. Pretty much all Arkanes were never afraid to stand up for themselves thanks to this training.

One thing that was enforced from the beginning though is that the training was to teach them to defend themselves by all means, but never to attack someone. The one thing that Arkanes would always enforce when training their young would be to never start a fight. By all means, do what can be done to finish it and definitely defend yourself, but never be the aggressor. For an Arkane to start a fight by throwing the first punch was frowned upon and considered a great shame.

It was thanks to this though that Arkanes had built up a good deal of respect among other races. A cowardly, cowering or even a weak Arkane was pretty much unheard of. Even the Krogan respected Arkane for being a race that would not back down and would stand up to bullies.

Since other races had joined the Helldivers, this little practice it seemed had rubbed off on them as well. Even human Helldivers would teach their children to fend for themselves.

Austin and Sarah were prime examples of this. From a time when they were old enough to understand, their father had taught them how to fight and how to defend themselves if attacked. Naturally, the training had worked well for them. It had encouraged an interest in them working out regularly to be strong, fit and healthy, and neither of them backed down easily if threatened.

In this particular case, their little arm wrestle was them trying to test their strength. For Sarah, it wasn't too surprising that her brother was winning. He'd always been the slightly stronger of the two, plus he had the advantage of being a full Helldiver with the Helldiver serum further enhancing his strength. Nevertheless, she was at least relived she was still able to give him some resistance.

"What's the matter? The Alliance got you pushing too many pencils?" Austin taunted in a friendly way.

The redhead didn't say anything and simply kept trying to push against her brother. It was to no avail however as Austin had more or less nearly brought her arm right over.

"Had enough?" he added.

"Make it easy on yourself, brother." Sarah said, unable to hide the fact that she was struggling.

In the end though, she gave in.

"Alright! Alright! You win!" she laughed, lightly hitting her brother on the shoulder.

"You held out better than I thought actually. I'm impressed." Austin smiled.

"Damn good to see you again, Austin."

The two siblings hugged one another warmly.

"Oh it's been too long." Austin said.

"I love what you've done with your hair." Sara said, admiring how her brother had let his hair grow out a bit.

"You too." Austin smiled, indicating to Sarah's red hair.

"Remind me to once again thank the happy couple for inviting me." Said Sarah.

* * *

The final two guest additions were Xun and also Nyara who had actually been invited by Alaara and Sandra themselves as a surprise for Austin, one which he had managed to react quite calmly to as she arrived wearing a dress that he was sure was deliberately too small for her in order to really show off her form... and most likely to tempt him to tear it off her later tonight. Mind you, he probably would've done that either way.

As had been said before, it was a relatively small wedding. In some ways though, that made it better. No massive crowds of strangers, the wedding wasn't being made a huge deal out of, it was just a private ceremony for people they trusted and knew very well.

* * *

As Austin stood before his armor, ready to put it on for the ceremony, he took a deep breath. It seemed strange for a warrior like him to be more nervous about this than be nervous about a battle. But then again, a wedding wasn't exactly an everyday occurrence in the life of a Helldiver.

"Into battle then." He said to himself.

* * *

As Austin stood at the altar, now in full armor and sword in hand, Sandra soon joined, dressed in her uniform. The two nodded to each in acknowledgment with a smile.

This also finally revealed who Sandra had chosen as her best man… Dash.

Normally, a same sex wedding like this would've had a best woman, but the truth was that Sandra didn't really know any of the other women in Alpha as much, or as long, as she'd known Dash. They'd been in the same basic training unit after all.

To be honest, he actually seemed like the only choice. The only slight worry though was the speech he'd have to give later on…

As for bridesmaid meanwhile, Alaara had asked Alexa for that role. Troy had earlier had trouble keeping his eyes off his girlfriend dressed in a lovely navy blue dress.

"Nervous?" Austin asked.

"A little." Sandra replied honestly, taking a deep breath.

"Well, for what it's worth, I think it's going to go perfectly." Austin said optimistically.

Sandra simply gave a light smile.

Shortly after, the music began and Alaara soon appeared, slowly walking down the aisle escorted by her parents on each arm.

Once they'd reached the altar, both Asari gave their daughter a kiss on the cheek and allowed her to walk up to Sandra, who took her hand in hers.

 _"Nice outfit."_ Alaara said through their union, smiling at her soon to be wife.

 _"Beautiful dress."_ Sandra said back.

With everyone seated, Austin cleared his throat and began just as Leena moved her drone into position and began recording the whole event.

"There are few other sights and events in this galaxy that are more joyous than when two people come together in love. Dear friends, family, honored guests, today we are gathered to witness the joining of Sandra and Alaara in true eternal bondship and marriage. If anyone present has any reason why these two should not be joined, let them speak now or…

"Or keep their traps shut." Dash jokingly interrupted, much to the amusement of everyone else who laughed slightly.

"Yes, thank you for that, Dash." Austin sighed. "Anyone?"

"Nope." Alaara simply chuckled when no response came.

"Good. I thought not, but I had to ask." Austin said. "Anyway, your turns to speak."

"Okay…" Sandra said, taking another deep breath. "Alaara T'onrack, I've known you now for 8 years, and I always knew I liked you. But then one day you held my hand, and then another day after… you kissed me, and after that I knew my life was changed forever, that from that moment on there was no going back. And it gives me great pleasure to stand here with you in front of our friends, family and your parents where I can declare my everlasting love to you, now and forever. Actually no, more than that, now… and for an eternity."

A combination of "aw"s came from some of the spectators. Even Austin smiled under his helmet.

Now it was Alaara's turn as she composed herself.

"The first time I saw you, we were all in our armor. Not exactly something that can be claimed was love at first sight. We've spent over 8 years living and fighting together with the rest of this band of misfits we call our squad."

This also caused a light laugh from everyone else.

"Oy!" Hawk said jokingly.

"And then one day we held hands and… something changed, and then we kissed for the first time which wasn't part of undercover work." Alaara continued.

Again, this was met another small laugh.

"Alaara, behave." Sandra whispered with a smile.

"And after that, everything changed. All I can say is… though I have had other bondmates in my life, none of them, and I'm sorry if this offends any of them who are here right now… they're not here are they?"

This once more caused another laugh from everyone at the Asari's humor. Still, it kept everyone in good spirits.

"None of them can hope to compare to you. The union that we have, I dare say is something that so many others like us can barely dream of, and it is something that I will forever cherish as long as I live, and will never forget."

Just as Sandra's speech had been emotional for everyone, Alaara's had a similar response. Even her parents appeared to be shedding some happy tears.

"Well then, let's not delay things." Austin said. "Sandra, do you take this Asari to be your wife?"

"I do." Sandra replied, managing to keep her voice calm despite that she too had shed a tear. It was out of sight though so only Alaara actually saw it.

"Alaara, do you take this woman to be your wife?" Austin asked.

"I do."

"Rings then, if you please." Austin said to both Dash and Alexa who handed the couple their respective rings which were then put on each other's fingers.

"What more need be said then?" Austin asked rhetorically. "By the power vested in me as leader of Helldiver Squad Alpha, I hereby declare this couple…"

For a very brief moment, he came so close to saying husband and wife. Luckily though he stopped himself just in time and found the correct term to use.

"… Married. Now go ahead and kiss already."

Alaara, being all too eager to oblige, did something rather surprising. She pretty much forced her flowers into Austin's arms before she and Alaara finally kissed long and passionately as everyone else erupted into happy applause.

Even Kraan it seemed wiped a little tear from his eye.

"I saw that, tough guy." Leena said, nudging him slightly.

"No, no, I just…" Kraan tried to say, but ultimately gave up. "Okay, so I'm not made of stone."

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, silence please for the speeches."

The whole room fell silent and Sooleeia rose from her seat.

"I have to say, it's very nice to see so many old friends here today along with a few new ones. I'm ashamed to admit though that I have unfortunately lost the notes I had planned for this as I put them in my other dress and what I thought was my speech turns out to be the script for my wife and I's next film project which… I don't think is entirely appropriate… at least not until the after party. So I'm gonna have to make this up as I go." She said.

A few light chuckles followed as Sooleeia cleared her throat.

"Alaara, I can only hope that you, my beautiful… boisterous, brilliant, and very beloved daughter will be as happy as I have been since the day you were born."

"Oh, Dad." Alaara smiled emotionally.

"What I really want to say is, may you both be lucky enough to enjoy the three best things in this… weird, worrying, but ultimately I think still wonderful galaxy… love, love and love. A toast, to my beautiful daughter and her amazing lovely new wife.

Everyone raised their glasses along with a few applauding afterwards.

"And now please pray silence for the best man."

"Oh here we go…" Austin sighed with dread.

"I think you'll find he may yet surprise you." Sandra said.

Dash stood up and cleared his throat, also briefly straightening out and brushing off his suit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, honored guests… and… everyone else." He began, his last line causing a slight chuckle. "Well… where to begin? I suppose I'll start things off by saying that I have known Sandra since basic training. And despite that we struck up a good friendship during that time, I never would've imagined that we'd end up in the same squad together and that our friendship would continue after all these years. In that time though, Sandra has proven herself to be probably one of the best human beings I could've ever known. Indeed, when she first brought up with me the subject of being best man, I was confused. I didn't truly realize what she was asking at the time. I'd been certain she'd pick a best woman instead. But despite that, she still wanted me to have this role. Thank god though she didn't ask me to wear a dress."

A few of the guests couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Eventually, it sank in with me though and I expressed to her that I was both flattered and… surprised. I'd never expected this request and I was a little daunted in the face of it. But I promised my very best to accomplish a task which was, for me, as demanding and difficult as any I had faced."

Sandra looked at him in a somewhat puzzled look.

"Additionally, I thanked her for the trust she placed in me and indicated that I was, in some ways, very close to being moved by it. It was at that point however that I realized I had said none of this out load." Dash continued.

At this, everyone chuckled slightly, even Sandra.

"For a long time though, I kept wondering if she'd made the right choice in asking me. I don't deny it, I can be so incredibly annoying to be around with all my bad jokes, inappropriate humor, and genuinely being unable to keep my mouth shut…"

Dash though realized he was starting to ramble a bit and go off topic and changed the subject.

"But I suppose that act has run its course now." he said casually. He then turned in Alaara and Sandra's direction. "As this is your wedding day, you now have the right to know a truth I have kept to myself for many years, one that I will admit even among all these people. The truth is.. I am… a fool. I play the part of the fool because I worry about you. I worry about all of my squad. Given that I lost my parents at a very young age, Alpha has essentially become a family I never had, and I would never see that family splinter or fall apart. Tensions can run high though sometimes in our line of work. So I do what few others would be willing to do. I dare say, that the best comparison is that I allow myself to become a bad cracker joke to the rest of my squad. If they all know it's a terrible groaning joke, then everyone is against the joke, and therefore everybody is bonded. I couldn't bare the thought of any of us splitting up, so I allow myself to be made a fool of so that it keeps us all together."

All of Alpha couldn't help but look at each other as the realization really sank in for them. This little revelation cast Dash, and their previous attitudes towards him in a very new light now.

"So if I didn't understand I was being asked to be best man, it is because I never expected to anybody's best friend. And certainly not the best friend of the bravest, kindest and wisest human being I have ever had the good fortune of knowing. Sandra, I am a ridiculous man, redeemed only by the friendship that you have given and refuse to give up even to this day."

Dash then spoke directly to Alaara.

"Alaara, when I say that you deserve this woman, that is probably one of the highest compliments that I am capable of giving in mere words. Both you and your new wife have endured a civil war, injury and loss. But know that today you are here with the Asari that you have made your wife, the man that you have honored with your friendship, and the squad that are honored to be here beside you today, and will continue to be there for you. In short, the people who love you most in this galaxy. And I think I speak for all of them when I say that we shall never let your down, and still have at least 500 years or more to prove that."

Quite a few people were now actually dabbing at tears forming in their eyes at how emotionally heart-warming this had gotten.

"If I try and hug him, stop me." Sandra whispered, holding back her own emotion.

"Certainly not." Alaara simply said.

"Why is everyone crying?" Dash asked, both in confusion and concern. "Oh god, I said something, didn't I? Did I do it wrong?"

Sandra simply sighed and ultimately gave in.

"No you didn't. Come here."

Rising from her seat, she pulled Dash into a hug as everyone applauded. At first, the Scout was taken aback by this, but soon returned the hug. Once everything had settled back down, he continued.

"Right then, I think we'd all very much like to get on to the more fun part of this wedding now, so…" he then raised his glass. "To the married couple."

"To the married couple." Everyone repeated, raising their own glasses.

With an exhale of relief, Dash sat back down.

"Dash, that was… you've even made me cry." Alaara said happily as Sandra handed her a napkin to dry her eyes.

"Well, what can I say? Such an occasion warrants a special speech." Dash said, trying to also remain clam himself after coming down from the anxiety he'd had the whole time doing that speech. He'd never been one for public speaking.

"What you said about playing the fool to keep us together…" Kraan said, struggling to find the right words himself.

"I meant every word of it." Dash simply said.

"We owe you one hell of an apology for the past several years." Austin admitted. "Hell, this revelation is gonna change everything."

"No it bloody won't." Dash said sternly. "Yes, you know now. But don't you dare let that change anything. Because I sure as hell am never gonna stop what I've been doing. Can you possibly imagine going a day without my humor? We may as well give Hellspawn the white flag right now."

Alpha chuckled slightly at this.

"He's got a point." Alexa nodded.

"Besides, think of it as a running gag. Especially the phrase "Shut up, Dash." Don't you dare stop." Dash said.

The rest of the squad simply cast looks at one another and nodded with a smile.

"As you wish." Alaara smiled.

"Good." Dash smiled back. "Now, how long do we have to keep everyone distracted till you two head upstairs?"

Both Alaara and Sandra simply looked at one another with an unimpressed look.

 **"Shut up, Dash."** They both said, unable to hold back a reluctant smile.

Everyone else laughed very lightly as Dash smiled back with an approving nod.

"That's my girls."

* * *

Dancing was pretty much in full swing. All the couples in Alpha especially were dancing. Even Austin was dancing with Nyara… while also trying to keep telling to behave herself in public. He was a bit surprised at how hungry the Asari seemed for him this time. Alaara and Sandra especially were dancing with so much happiness and love that they were distracting everyone else from their dancing.

Many long hours passed into the celebrations with dancing and drinking along with plenty of hilarious drunken moments.

Sandra for now was simply talking with a few people who were offering her further congratulations. It was as she was walking to another group however than none other than her new wife came up to her.

What the Asari did next however caught Sandra completely off guard… she initiated the meld right then and there.

Sandra immediately pulled her new wife into a kiss as soon as they were out of sight. The kiss ended up lasting several long minutes before they finally parted for air.

 _"There it is. Married."_ Alaara said happily through the meld, looking almost on the point of joyful tears.

 _"I've never seen you this happy since we first became bondmates."_ Sandra smiled back silently, gently caressing the Asari's cheek.

_"And we still haven't even got to the honeymoon."_

_"One thing at a time, darling. We've still got tonight to get through. I'll be amazed if we're even able to get out of bed at all. I know what you're like when you're really happy and really horny at the same time."_

_"Speak for yourself."_ Alaara smiled, her hands moving lower to Sandra's hindquarters. _"You look really sexy in that uniform. I can't wait to get you out of it though... run my tongue all over that hard muscle you have."_

 _"And I can't wait to get your gorgeous body out of that dress. That azure of yours has waited long enough."_ Sandra said through the meld, making it sound like an erotic whisper.

 _"Oh stop it, dear. You'll make me ruin the dress."_ Alaara moaned.

 _"To fondle those perfect tits of yours..."_ Sandra continued seductively.

Give how long they'd been together now, and also with the amount of times they'd been intimate, something like this had become perfectly natural to them. Still, Sandra couldn't' help but let out a light gasp as the meld showed her just how potent Alaara's desire was. The Asari practically both teased and begged for them to retire to the bedroom early. For now, Sandra managed to resist it. After all, there were still a few people she'd hoped to talk to.

Her wife however had other ideas on that matter. That's when she deployed… her secret weapon.

The effect was very subtle and only Sandra noticed it, but it came as both a complete shock and at the same time a very welcome surprise to her as she was stunned by the oh so familiar sensation of her breasts growing. Already she could feel them beginning to push hard against her uniform as they grew and expanded very slowly. Despite the strain, her outfit was both sturdy and flexible enough to not tear apart as it stretched.

At this point, Sandra was fully enticed as well as aroused by her wife's new trick, and gladly went with her to a more secluded place away from the rest of the guests.

Sandra idly noted how this was the first time she'd actually walked around with her Union-enhanced endowments and yet her stance, posture and walk was barely affected by the extra weight. Hell, they'd done it so many times that her body was pretty much accustomed to it. If anything, it felt almost as natural as her regular size.

Alaara was about to let out a moan of pleasure, unable to contain herself. But she was interrupted by another moan instead which didn't come from Sandra either.

Both of them looked at one another with both confusion and surprise.

"Sounds like someone's already made a start before us." Sandra chuckled.

"The moan that followed next however caught both of them off guard...

"Oh Shepard!"

Both of them were left wide eyed and frozen in surprise for several seconds before Alaara finally broke the silence telepathically.

"Right... I know this is meant to be our night... but... if that really is what I think it is... I've got to see this."

Sandra looked at her for a moment before she replied with an almost naughty smile.

"I hate to say it... but so do I."

Alaara could only share her wife's naughty smile very eagerly.

* * *

Dash meanwhile had retired from the dance for now. Despite how fun it had been, he felt he needed a small break, and possibly a little drink as well. As he continued watching the rest of his friends having fun, he noticed an Asari matron walk up to the bar as well. Initially, she remained oblivious to him, but her gaze temporarily fell on him when she noticed he'd been staring. Dash was quick though to avert his gaze. He didn't want to appear rude. It used to be he wouldn't care, but this was the wedding of two of his dearest friends. He would not stir up any trouble this time. **That** was a promise he refused to break tonight.

Even as he looked away however, the Asari seemed to keep looking at him for a long moment. Even when her drink arrived, she still kept looking at him as she lent slightly against the bar.

"Impressive speech you gave back there, Best Man. Well done." she eventually said.

There was definitely no denying she was a matron. Her voice had that tone of experience and maturity, while still sounding young at the same time.

"Well, uh... thank you, Miss." Dash said, trying to act casual.

A part of him tried to think of something else to say. He even kept asking, what would Shepard say? But int he end, nothing came to mind. Well, nothing that would seem sensible to say. Given however that the Asari had started the conversation, he did at least relax a bit and turned back to face.

Now that he got a proper look at her, there was no denying she was stunning.

The dress she wore was clearly designed to show A LOT of skin. Though nice and long reaching down to her feet, it was definitely a very thin material, which allowed a fair bit of her body's curves to show, and the dark blue color, despite going well with her blue skin did almost make her look nude, though only if someone were very drunk.

The leg part of the dress parted on the left, allowing full exposure of her leg. Meanwhile the top part, while fully covering her front, leaving only neck lien and some of her cleavage visible, left all of her back completely exposed save for her neck where the dress' front hooked round it. Her arms and hands were similarly exposed. That much skin... how the hell was she not dancing with someone... or even still here and not somewhere more secluded for that matter?

Dash considered it a wonder he was not frozen in place by her attire.

"Credit to the bride's parents, the money they spent on this certainly didn't go to waste. Its shocking, isn't it? The first time you encounter real wealth." the Asari said. "When I was your age, I had to make do with so much less. Live on one bowel of stew a day, and stew was a kind word for it."

"Your a friend of Alaara's parents, I'm guessing?" Dash said, keeping his cool despite how warm he now felt in his suit.

"You could say that. They've been some good... clients of mine. I'm actually surprised they invited me, but I'm certainly not complaining. Whoever set up the drinks menu has excellent taste. Have you tried this wine?" she asked, having a brief sip from the glass in her hand.

"Can't say that I have..." Dash replied. On a gamble however, he decided to try his luck. "But perhaps I should."

"One for the Best man." the Asari said to the bartender, interrupting Dash before he could say anything. She noted his somewhat surprised reaction. "Oh don't worry. I'm sure you'll have plenty of other chances to buy me a drink if you want to."

Dash took that as a good sign. Perhaps she was indeed interested in seeing where this went. He certainly hoped so. Once the bartender handed him a simialr glass, he took a sip of the wine. Whatever wine this was was incredible. A warm feeling ran throughout his body, making him feel calmer, more rleaxed... and a bit more confident as well.

"Mmm. That is good." he said in surprise. "That's really good."

"Where do you think its from?" the asked with a smile.

"I couldn't even guess." Dash simply replied.

"Doesn't matter, does it?" the Asari asked rhetorically. "Its the real thing, or its not. You only need a tongue to tell the difference. Go on. Have some more."

Dash complied and drank a bigger mouthful this time. As he did though, the Asari seemed to let out a heavy sigh and her smile seemed to vanish.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Never really been one for huge crowds. I always prefer more solitude, quieter and more private places." the Asari replied. Her gaze then once again returned to Dash. "Why don't we continue this conversation elsewhere where we don't have to talk over the music and dancing?"

This only further made Dash beleive that this was beginning to go where he was hoping it would.

_"Thank you! Thank you!"_

* * *

"That's better. Quieter and less people. Just the two of us."

They'd found a little secluded spot just outside the hall were the wedding and its party were. The cooling night air was actually quite welcome after the warm air from inside.

"Not sure what else there is to talk about though. We barely know each other." Dash said, trying to play it cool.

The Asari simply smiled at him though as she finished her drink and set her empty glass down on the floor.

"Then we need not talk further."

Gently taking Dash's drink from him, she set the glass down beside hers and then gently pinned him against the wall. Despite that he was shorter than her by an inch or two, in some ways he actually looked her looking down on him.

"Doesn't this seem a bit sudden?" Dash asked, just managing to hide the fact that his pulse had shot right up as well as the fact that so much blood had now gone right to his groin.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you looking at me a certain way. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little curious to feel a Helldiver's touch." the Asari smiled.

She then gently brought one of Dash's hands towards her and actually brought it up to her azure. She didn't hoke up her dress or anything, and it seemed she also had underwear on underneath, but still... Dash was almost at a loss for words as the Asari actually forced him to touch her. The Asari moaned in pleasure as he began to gently touch her, her eyes shut in ecstasy.

"Eager. Very eager." she sighed.

Dash imply smiled back, eagerly waiting for when she would return the favor and make the next move...

But it didn't come!

After only about 5 minutes or so, the Asari suddenly pushed his hand away, straightened out her dress... and actually turned to leave.

"That will do, I think." she panted ever so slightly with a smug smile.

"Wait, what?!" Dash said in almost complete shock. _"You've got to be fucking kidding me?!"_

"Thank you for getting us both roiled up, young man. And thank you for the drink. Enjoy the rest of your evening." she said with an unbelievably naughty smile.

And with that, she disappeared back into the crowd, leaving Dash all on his own.

"...Why is it always me?"

* * *

When Alaara and Sandra had rounded the corner from where they had heard the moan.

They'd already had a rough idea of what to expect, but the sight they ended up beholding was a lot more surprising.

As they HAD expected, Austin and Nyara were currently engaged in a very steamy foreplay. Nyara was crouched down in front of the Helldiver with her legs spread revealing her dripping pussy which she was fingering, and she had also undid Austin' trousers and was sucking away at his large erect shaft.

What Alaara and Sandra HADN'T expected however were the extra two Asari with them. None other than Alaara's parents were joining in, both in a similar state of undress. Sooleeia had the top of her dress undone, exposing her humongous breasts, one of which Austin was squeezing in one hand while the other hiked up the lower part of her dress and was reaching into her panties and fingering her azure all while he and her engaged in an aggressive kiss and tongue play. Kavarda meanwhile also had her tits out while she sucked on her wife's other breast while she stroked herself through her dress while her other hand squeezed and fondled Sooleeia's ass.

"By the goddess!" Alaara whispered. "I knew Shepard was good with the ladies, but to catch **their** eyes as well..."

At that moment, Austin's cock momentarily popped out of Nyara's mouth as the younger Asari paused her sucking to give the penis a long lick from base to tip, giving Alaara and Sandra a full view of it in all its glory, currently wet and glistening with Nyara's saliva.

"Whoa! And no wonder with a cock like that."

Sandra didn't say anything, but in truth she too was very impressed with the sight before her. Part of her was a little bit appalled by the fact that all four of them were doing it right here on their wedding day. But then again, she and Alaara couldn't' exactly complain. They'd had sex in far worse places and situations, even during some missions. Compared to them in fact, this little foursome foreplay was actually quite tame.

Alaara couldn't help but notice how Sandra seemed to biting her lip ever so slightly, and she could tell her wife's pulse had increased. The Asari smiled naughtily as she observed that Sandra was getting turned on by this… just as she was. Sandra even seemed to be crossing her legs ever so slightly. Noticing this, Alaara decided to be even more naughty. Hugging her wife close to her from behind, Alaara's left hands gently snaked down Sandra's body until she eventually reached the hem of Sandra's trousers.

Sandra almost protested, but despite everything she just couldn't bring herself to say it. Instead, she let the Asari undo her belt ever so slightly and the blue hand slid in, touching her wettening folds.

The overly eager Asari was a bit aggressive with her fingers at first, but the jolt of her body made Alaara ease down a bit.

"Careful, Alaara." She hissed.

"Shhh!" Alaara simply smiled back.

Both of them went back to simply watching the show. Sandra had to hold back letting out a moan as Alaara continued to finger her. The Asari's other hand meanwhile went around Sandra's and brought it up to her where her dress was barely managing to contain her breasts. Sandra knew where this was going and gently eased the dressed down enough until Alaara's left tit spilled out and into her waiting hand. As the Asari continued to finger her, she in turn started kneading the blue breast in her hand, now making it difficult for Alaara to also hold her moans in. She managed to sort of let them out by planting some gentle kisses on her wife's cheek.

Austin reveled in the sensations of both having his cock sucked, an Asari porn star tit in his hand, and an Asari porn star tongue in his mouth. Nyara's hand produced an indescribable feeling as they slid across his sensitive flesh. Looking down at Nyara, he saw the Asari reveling in happiness, so focused on her task that she didn't even notice her boyfriend staring. A bead of pre escaped the Helldiver's tip and slowly slid down his shaft, until it made contact with Nyara's tongue. Once again tasting Austin's cum, Nyara's eyes seemed to glow. She sucked him hard, slurping around the shaft with her tongue and cooing with pleasure. Looking under her, her saw a small pool of her feminine juices had formed under where she'd been touching herself.

In a swift move, Nyara sucked him as hard as she could and then released him with a resounding lip-smack. Flicking her tongue against Austin's balls, Nyara began licking his cock from the base to the tip in slow, almost torturous, strokes.

"Mmm. So tasty..." she mumbled quietly

Sparks of pleasure surged up Austin's body from the Asari's ministrations. By now his cock was really leaking and Nyara was greedily lapping up every little drop.

While Austin was still preoccupied with Sooleeia and Kavarda, Nyara finally began bobbing her head, intent on milking her favourite cock in the galaxy of every single drop it had to give.

Soon it wasn't long before Nyara could feel her boyfriend's shaft swelling a bit more and his balls beginning to tense. The familiar signs were all there.

"He's gonna cum." She said, just enough that the other two Asari could hear her.

"Oh goddess yes!" Sooleeia moaned as she and Kavarda both got on their knees next to Nyara and in front of Austin.

Grabbing his cock in his hand, he stood in front of the three Asari, pumping vigorously. As all them opened their mouths wide, tongues hanging out, the bouncing of their breasts in their hands spurred him on, coaxing him to squeeze, pull, thrust, and massage his cock as best he could. Harder and faster he went, feeling the churning ache from deep inside. Finally, with a cry of release, he unleashed rope after rope of spurts to rain down on the Asari. His hips jerked in the air in time with his eruptions, cum spraying from his dick as his body spas med powerfully, each spurt making him twitch more powerfully than the last.

Nyara, Sooleeia and Kavarda all moaned in pleasure and delight as Austin shot his thick cum all over their tits, painting their blue skin white. Several spatters ejected right up onto their faces and a few landed on their lips and chins.

Finally, Austin was spent. None of them could say anything. Their gazes simply shifted to meet each  
other's, soft smiles replacing the looks of erotic pleasure, as Austin came down from his cum shot.

"Oh fuck." He panted, his forehead shining slightly with sweat. "That was…"

Nyara simply winked at him while Sooleeia and Kavarda smiled at him, licking his cum off each other's faces and tentatively licking their lips free of his ejaculate, swallowing it greedily.

Alaara gently withdrew her fingers from Sandra's trousers, glistening with her love's wetness. Bringing them to her mouth, she managed to share it with Sandra who similarly took some of the Asari's fingers into her mouth, tasting herself on them.

"I don't know about you, darling, but after that little show… I want nothing more right now than to fuck you so much."

"Oh I'm all yours, wife." Sandra panted.

"Let's get out of here."

* * *

The moment they entered the room, Alaara practically pounced on Sandra, the Helldiver just managed to catch her and hold her up in her arms. Both mouths latched onto one another in a deep kiss.

As they kissed, Sandra carried Alaara over to the large bed. To her surprise however, when she gently put her wife down, Alaara actually turned to tables and flipped them over so that she was on top now. They resumed kissing again for a short moment before Alaara then broke it. As Sandra sat up, Alaara sunk lower and began undoing Sandra's trousers. Sandra was quick to help her as the Asari managed to drag her trousers and underwear down her legs, onto the ground, and off her completely.

With nothing stopping her now, Sandra's tongue went right for Sandra's pussy, lapping away greedily and probing deep into her new wife's folds.

"Oh yes!"

"Raise your leg up." Alaara said.

Sandra did so and managed to prop her left foot up on the bed, presenting her pussy to Alaara directly, who probed her tongue in even deeper.

Sandra meanwhile gently reached up and began undoing her jacket from the bottom, slowly revealing more and more of her body as Alaara watched from below.

Eventually, the last bit was undone and Sandra's jacket parted, revealing her breasts which she began fondling in pleasure while moaning at the attention Alaara was giving to her pussy. Alaara was also enjoying the sight of seeing her wife's eight pack revealed as the jacket parted. She made a mental note to remember to run her tongue over those firm lean muscles at some point tonight.

As Sandra kept squeezing her own chest, Alaara dug her tongue in deeper, as much as she could. Sandra could only let out even more moans, licking her own lips in pleasure, anticipating the further pleasures that were soon to come. Finally after some time and even more moans of pleasure as she ate out her new wife, Alaara finally rose back up, kissing her way up the Helldiver's muscular body, lingering for quite some time on the human's breasts. Still she found herself unable to resist how wet they made her when enlarged through the union. It just made her want to suck on them forever, play with them, squeeze them, have their soft flesh rubbing against her face, feeling the nipples in her azure. She could go on…

As she took one of the nipples in her mouth, Alaara then managed to pick Sandra up and carried her bridal style over to the bed. Yes, it seemed somewhat odd given that it was usually the other way around, but right now neither of them cared. All that mattered in this moment right now was them. Once they reached the bed, Alaara set Sandra down. Then rather surprisingly, she actually turned the Helldiver over onto her front, only to give her arse a playful little slap, which Sandra let out a small pleasure moan followed by a light giggle.

Sandra waited for another slap to come, but it never came. Instead she noticed out of the comer of her eye that Alaara had backed away slightly. Curious, Sandra rolled onto her back again, the Asari giving her a seductive wink. Her whole body then began to shimmer slightly with biotics.

Already Sandra could see Alaara's tits growing in size. What happened at the same time however was a new sight for the Helldiver as Alaara's growing breasts pressed against the fabric of her wedding dress. However, instead of tearing or bursting through the dress, the steadily growing tits were actually pushing the fabric of the dress so much that the zip on the front was actually being unzipped on its own, purely by having Alaara's tits expand from within as they gradually tried to push their way out of the confined clothing they now found themselves stuck inside. Very slowly, the zip moved down on its own further and further, slowly revealing more and more of Alaara's blue skin and her toned front as it slid all the way down until stopping just above her pussy.

"Enjoying the show, my love?" Alaara smiled.

Sandra's only reply to was to reach down to her and begin masturbating to the erotic sight before her as she watched the top part of Alaara's wedding dress fall down on its own, pooling at her waist and revealing her wife's enlarged bosoms in all their glory.

"Bigger than usual, Sandra." Alaara said observantly. "You must be particularly horny tonight."

Sandra nodded. She didn't really need to say anything. Through the union the both felt how aroused the other was. With a smile, Alaara then turned her back to Sandra. Wiggling her hips aggressively, the dress eventually slid down her butt and finally polled at her feet on the floor. Much to Sandra's surprise and delight, Alaara hadn't worn any underwear under her dress. To be honest though, it wasn't that surprising. Alaara had always had a bit of a thing for "going commando" and only wore underwear on certain occasions if she was either in an uncomfortable outfit or hoping to put on some kind of strip tease show… and not just for Sandra.

With a little smile, Alaara gave her butt a slight wiggle, which made Sandra breath in with further arousal. Without turning, Alaara slowly backed up towards Sandra until her butt was within reach. Sandra didn't even hesitate and reached up to cup the gorgeous arse of her wife.

Such delicious cheeks, so round, firm, big, smooth and soft to the touch. As Alaara savored the sensation of her wife's touch, Sandra's mouth edged closer until she quite literally kissed it. With Alaara, only times like these were when Sandra would quite literally "Kiss her arse." And it worked vice versa. If anything, Alaara enjoyed it more due to Sandra's muscles. Hell, if anything the Asari was quite the muscle worshiper when it came to them having sex. Right now though, all that mattered was here and now.

After Sandra had slid her cheek over Alaara's arse plenty of times, the Asari finally turned round and gently laid the both of them down the bed, their enlarged tits and hyper sensitive nipples rubbing against each other, the slightest movement causing stimulation that would drive anyone lesser to an instant release.

Both partners let out moans of pleasures as their chests touched, the hyper sexual sensitivity sending jolt after jolt of pleasurable sensations through their bodies, doubled by the enhancements and then quadrupled by their linked minds via the union.

Alaara, being the one on top, begin to gently thrust herself against Sandra, not only thrusting her enlarged breasts into her wife's, but also rubbing her azure against Sandra's pussy, adding even further pleasure and stimulation.

Alaara moaned throatily into Sandra's mouth as they kissed, hungrily grinding their bodies against each other, rubbing their pillowy breasts against one another and writhing back and forth.

Being driven almost mad with pleasure, Sandra wrapped her strong legs around the Asari's torso, essentially locking her in place as they continued to thrust against one another, trying to see who might climax first or if somehow it might end up being another of their shared ones. Alaara in turn kept her arms locked in place, the two of them now holding onto each other like their lives depended on it.

"You feel so good... so hot... so sexy..." Alaara panted.

Sandra tried to think of a good thing to say in return, but nothing really fitting enough came to mind. In the end, the Helldiver simply stared back at her with the same expression of pleasure and love.

Alaara's thrust soon started to become bigger, slightly more force put into them, each one giving both partners a jolt of pleasure as their hyper sensitive nipples and the flesh of their enlarged tits crashed into one another and their pussies continued to grind with every thrust.

"I-I'm getting close..." Alaara warned, trembling in pleasure but still eager for the friction that set their nerves alight.

Pistoning back and forth with all the speed and force they could muster, using every muscle they could still control, finally, neither of them could hold it back any longer. As they both timed it exactly right, they simultaneously launched into an incredible orgasm, their screams of ecstasy almost loud enough that the entire party downstairs might have heard them if it wasn't for the room being sound proofed.

As both took a moment to get their breath back, Alaara looked down at her beautiful wife. Seeing her so happy and in such pleasure... it was a sight that mere words alone could not describe how happy it made her feel.

With a gasp and a sigh of utter relief, Alaara slumped into Sandra's arms, collapsing onto her big breasts and laying there to regain her strength, feeling the heat from her lover's body. Sandra gave a happy sigh and pulled the Asari into another kiss, holding her close with her strong arms and legs, intent on keeping her right where she was for a while.

Eventually, after feeling her energy return, Alaara was able to push herself up enough that she was looking at Sandra once more.

 _"Tonight is ours, my love. Tell me what you want. Tell me everything."_ She said through the union, taking both Sandra's hands and pressing them to the bed.

_"Nipples. I've always wanted to…"_

Alaara though stopped her by pressing her finger to the Helldiver's lips.

 _"So have I."_ she said seductively.

Gently flipping Sandra over on to her front, Alaara began planting several kisses along the woman's back, her lips savoring her soft skin and hard muscles.

Gently parting Sandra's legs, Alaara brought one of her matriarch sized tits down to the human's wet pussy until the hard erect nipple was touching and rubbing the folds almost like the tip of a penis.

"Mmmmmm." Sandra moaned calmly with a relaxed smile on her face.

Alaara then grabbed Sandra and rolled the two of them around, pinning the human to the bed under her. She smiled at her wife seductively and reached down to stroke one of the enlarged and erect nipples underneath her. Sandra shuddered and instinctively thrust up towards her, letting the Asari feel her to be ridden, to feel her wife's azure around her hyper sensitive nub.

 _"You're so sexy... You have no idea."_ Alaara purred dreamily.

With a soft smile, she straddled Sandra's breast and lowered herself onto her nipple, letting out an exhale of pleasure as the firm nub finally made contact with her azure. The sensations that fill both of them was such pleasure it nearly left them at a complete loss for words. Sandra took hold of Alaara's shoulders, feeling the blue texture of her skin and the firm toned muscles underneath, and started to thrust her breast into her, driving her nipple in.

 _"Ah! Yes! M-my tits! Uh! Please!"_ Alaara begged, holding her bondmate's shoulders for support; her black eyes looking deep into hers

Sandra complied, her hands reaching up caressing the great, heavy bosoms of her blue lover, feeling the firm soft and hot flesh gently squish under her grasp.

Alaara moaned, pushing her chest out into Sandra's hands, allowing the human to squeeze her nipples.

The two hungrily kissed one another, tongue's almost a blur as they danced with another, savoring their tastes and lips practically fused together lovingly.

 _"Do you like playing with my body?"_ The Asari moaned at her ministrations.

Sandra gave her a playful smirk and ran her fingers expertly over Alaara's nipples, making her moan and mewl at the stimulation. Slowly, she guided Sandra towards one of them. Sandra smiled at her and accepted the nipple, rolling it between her lips and exerting gentle, teasing pressure with her teeth.

 _"Hmm... that feels nice. Just... don't forget what's the priority here."_ Alaara moaned, her hips bucking against the nipple she was riding, still firmly lodged inside her pussy.

Sandra squeezed Alaara's other tit, caressing the firm and soft flesh, still suckling teasingly at the other nipple in her mouth, listening to her wife moan in pleasure from her actions, feeling the Asari's her azure lips rippling around her nipple. Her nursing was suddenly interrupted when she was pulled off Alaara's breasts and into a deep kiss. The Asari once again shoved her tongue inside her mouth, exploring it in detail. Sandra kissed her back as eagerly as she could until the lack of air forced them to break the kiss apart reluctantly.

 _"I love you so much, Alaara. Cum for me..."_ Sandra moaned.

Alaara's pussy contracted slightly, pulling at Sandra's nipple; her black eyes rolling to the back of her head. With a muffled moan she finally gave in, a small wave of her cum crashing into Sandra's abs and pooling on their bedroll. Alaara broke the kiss and panted, looking down at her wife with a mixture of love, satisfaction and desire. Sandra looked back at her with need, her muscled torso and enhanced breasts drenched in the Asari's sexual fluids.

Sandra thought about Alaara's tongue and the many advantages it had. Alaara pretty much read her mind as they both decided what would be next for them tonight. The Asari crawled towards her wife and gently brought her nose closer to the human's moistening pussy and her eyes closed as she savored her lover's scent. Alaara licked at Sandra's moist slit from top to bottom, stopping briefly to kiss her clit.

 _"So good..."_ she heard her whisper before she suddenly plunged her tongue inside the Helldiver's warm depths, exploring every nook and cranny, much to her pleasure.

Sandra shuddered and moaned, feeling her juices dribble from her womanhood onto the Asari's tongue. She wriggled in delight, praising Alaara's skill with her tongue and begging her to keep going. She howled and cried, writhing as Alaara busily devoured her womanhood, and she found herself wrapping her legs around Alaara's neck and pulled the Asari's face right up against her pussy.

There was no protest, only compliance as Alaara's tongue batted against Sandra's cervix, demanding entrance into her innermost sanctuary. She tried to hold out, but this was one of those rare time where she was in a battle she couldn't win. The Helldiver cried out as an orgasm rocked her, drenching Alaara's face with her honey. Her juices flowed into Alaara's waiting mouth, guided by the Asari's tongue, and she was all too happy to drink, trying her best not to waste even a single drop.

Finally, with a few last moans, Sandra slumped down, completely spent. Her strong legs released Alaara as she was overcome by numbness that came from being so very well fucked by her love.

 _"I'll never get over how good you are at eating pussy."_ She panted, her skin glistening from her own sweat.

Alaara licked her lips as best she could, making sure they were completely clean. Sandra's compliment brought a soft glow of pride to the Asari's black union eyes

Now it was Sandra's turn to pleasure her wife orally. Right now, she would love nothing more but to have a taste of some Asari juice. As the two flipped over, Alaara lay back on the bed and opened her legs, giving her wife easy access to her blooming, moist azure.

Sandra settled in between Alaara's legs, and lent in to reach her folds. From there, she was in a perfect position to gently swish her tongue up the length of the Asari's slit, starting from way back between her legs and then trailing gently forward to caress her blue pussy directly, pushing up between her lips to tickle the interior of her womanhood.

Alaara gasped in pleasure and her legs buckled for a moment, though she quickly recovered by digging her fingers into the bed covers, panting from the stimulation. Sandra looked up at her as best she could around the Asari's heaving bosoms and gave her an innocent smile, then turned right back to the task at hand. Her tongue slid across Alaara's folds, caressing her with all the oral skill she could muster, her juices flowing and being caught and savored with each lick.

Alaara's enjoyment was very apparent, as each time Sandra even breathed over her azure, she bucked against her; her vaginal walls contracting in hopes of gripping the human's tongue and pulling it deeper inside her. Sandra's saliva, combined with the ever-flowing Asari juice kept it slick enough that she didn't have a chance of holding her tongue back.

 _"Hmm... Ah! A little more to the left..."_ Alaara directed her.

Sandra's tongue bent with all of the flexibility she could muster, wriggling into her wife's depths and trying to caress and stroke every last one of her most intimate places. Pretty soon, she found that special spot. Every time she made contact with that little spot, Alaara rewarded her with a buck of her hips and a renewed gush of fluids.

"Ah! If you keep doing this I'm going to- Oh!" Alaara gasped as she lost herself in the pleasurable sensations her wife was responsible for. Sandra continued to wriggle her tongue, stroking that special point with as much care as she could manage

With a gasp and sigh, Alaara's tenseness vanished and she fell flat on the bed, gazing up at her love through half-lidded eyes as Sandra crawled up on top, their biotically enlarged and hyper sensitive breasts once more rubbing against each other. Sandra couldn't help but gasp in surprise as the Asari suddenly pulled her down into a deep kiss. Alaara didn't seem to mind tasting herself as she licked around inside the human's mouth. Sandra waited until Alaara took her tongue out of her mouth and smiled at her.

Despite everything though, this was far from the end. They're hunger for each other was just insatiable tonight. For the next several hours, they made love and fucked long into the night going through many more positions which resulted in overwhelming pleasure for either one or other, or both at the same time. In fact, the amount of sessions they went through tonight exceeded, by far, all the ones they ever usually had, even on nights when they'd been drunk, overly horny, or even had a third party in their bed. And then there was the orgasm count. By the time both of them finally had nothing else left in them, Sandra had had a total of nine orgasms and Alaara... well over sixteen.

It was definitely a good thing they'd asked for two spare bedsheets tonight. The originals were a complete mess. Not to mention their aggressive fucking might have actually torn them a bit. Once they'd sought to that, they both lay down exhausted, cuddled in on another's embrace, their still enlarged and sensitive breasts and nipples touching one another.

 _"Was it good for you, my wife?"_ Sandra asked, her finger tips gently stoking Alaara's cheek.

 _"The best..."_ Alaara whispered.

The two smiled and kissed again.

 _"I love you, my dirty little Asari."_ She said, smiling lovingly as she spoke through the meld.

 _"I love you too, Sandra. You are my amazon, my goddess, my bondmate, my wife… and now you are mine, just as I am yours."_ Said Alaara.

 _"Always have been, always will."_ Sandra said back.

Both of them intertwined hands as they looked into one another's eyes, their foreheads touching, lips merely inches from one another.

With one final phrase both said in perfect unison between them, they sealed the gap with probably their most deepest, passionate, and loving kiss ever.

**_"Now and forever, my love. For all eternity."_ **

* * *

Fortress Vermithrax had been very quiet these past few days. Barely anyone had seen or heard from the Commander in a while. He'd taken to locking himself in his chamber, letting only his lieutenants, strike force and personal guard enter on occasions of meetings and such. Everyone else though hadn't seen him for some time. Somewhat unusual given that the Commander in the past had often come out as way of providing motivation to keep his forces going, reminding them of who they answered to.

Right now, The Commander sat in his throne, the dark glow from the lava being the only illumination he currently had. It cast a very bleak and almost haunting atmospheric light over the dozens of pained and writhing bodies of aliens and enemies that had been sculpted into the throne's architecture.

Held in place by an outstretched dead hand on the throne's left, was a spike on which a Batarian skull was impaled. The skull of his very first kill when he'd still been a child, a fact that he gladly shared with anyone who asked, but still only a half truth. Only those who knew The Commander's complete story and origins would recognize the skull wasn't just any Batarian skull, but the skull of his own father that he murdered in cold blood.

The only other form of illumination came from the holo screen of a vid the Commander was currently watching. None other than the vid that Leena's drone had recorded of Alaara and Sandra's wedding. Despite that Alpha had kept the ceremony small and quiet, that hadn't stopped him from finding out about it. To say that he'd been furious upon finding out his daughter was marrying an alien was an immense understatement.

As to the question as to why he hadn't tried to intervene… well, the answer was rather simple. They'd had the wedding take place on Arkadia in the heart of Arkadia's city. That was a place even the Commander dared not attack openly and directly. If he did, this civil war would practically be over for him and Hellspawn. And even if it wasn't, an attack would like that would unite nearly the entire galaxy against him. Consumed as he was by hatred and revenge, he wasn't foolish.

Deep down though, as the Commander watched Alaara and Sandra kiss, he couldn't help but feel a tinniest bit of happiness for his daughter. Seeing her smiling that much in the arms of those she loved, surrounded by her friends who were practically the only family she'd ever known… The Commander was not so fully consumed by evil that he was completely devoid of some kind of compassion. Despite all that though, that emotion was right at the back of his mind, lingering there like an outcast against the other emotion he felt right now: rage, fury, anger, and above all betrayal. After the time he had spared her from death, and this was how she repaid him?

The faint glow from the lava outside seemed to intensify as he watched Alaara and Sandra kiss again. This time, he didn't hold his emotions back. With a roar of anger, he brought his fist down hard on the arm of his throne. The loud noise echoed throughout his chambers and the whole throne shook violently. Fortunately it didn't break, a testament to the craftsmanship that had gone into its construction.

The vid ended and disappeared, leaving the Commander completely alone now. He took a moment to let himself try and calm down to prevent any more violent outbursts. Though it worked, mentally his mind burned like hell itself with all kinds of rage and anger. When next he and his daughter crossed paths… his desire to spare her and leave her as the last Helldiver alive… it might no longer hold him back.

This was far from the end. If anything, it was just the beginning…

* * *

**For a while, it was planned that The Commander actually WOULD attack the wedding, but it kind of dawned on me that the killing of some of the guests would overshadow the wedding, making it a bit bittersweet, so I changed it. And actually it was nice to do a chapter with no genuine problems this time. Just something happy and light hearted.**

**Things are going to get darker and more emotional from here though as we head into the final years of the Hellspawn Civil War. The next chapter especially will be when we start to see more of the darker renegade side of Shepard come out...**

**Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay strong. We've endured virus outbreaks in the past, and we're still here. Never lose hope. We'll endure this one too. And you know what they say, Always look on the bright side of life.** **See you soon. :)**


	25. Chapter 23, Renegade Emergence

**Hmm, that went well. Less than a month.**

**Hope you're all still well. :)**

**As I said before in the last chapter, this one marks the start of when things start getting a bit darker. This one especially has a fair bit of violence, some cold moments and as a warning as well, although there's no rape, it does have a scene that implies it. There is also the possibility the sex scene may be a bit unsettling for some people.**

* * *

**YEAR 8, Turning Point**

**2180: 8 Years after the battle of Elysium**

**7 Years before the Battle of Arkadia**

* * *

_"Though this year ended up being rather quiet for the civil war, that didn't mean it went completely smoothly. Unfortunately, this particular event was going to be a dark chapter in my life. If anything, one could almost say this was the turning point. This was when things started getting a lot darker. This was when Hellspawn started to really fight back. This... was where they started to win..."_

* * *

**Chapter 25**

**_Renegade Emergence_ **

If the wedding hadn't already been a happy occasion for Alaara and Sandra, the honeymoon ended up being even better, or so Alpha had been told. Truth was, after the two of them had returned after three weeks away, they hadn't said much about it. And even on on occasion when they'd tried to ask...

"You never did say how your 3 week honeymoon went…" Austin inquired. "...at that nudist colony."

"You're right. We didn't." Alaara simply smiled.

"Well how was it then?" Dash asked. But then the realization of their vague answer hit him. "Oh!"

"Any other questions?" Sandra asked, sharing a similar smile to her wife.

In the end, they'd chosen to leave it at that. Whatever had happened, it had obviously been good for both of them.

For a time, Alpha had wondered if the married couple were going to find somewhere else on Arkadia to stay, get an apartment of their own or something. But those thoughts had soon been put to rest when the married couple had confirmed they were happy where they were and currently had no plans to get a place of their own until they either retired or decided to start a family. No room changing was necessary either as hey'd already been sharing a room for years since becoming a couple. Sandra had already moved her stuff into Alaara's some time ago and they'd lent the room out for more regular everyday uses.

* * *

Things had been very quiet in the past month or so. Hellspawn it seemed had become surprisingly inactive and there had been less and less reports of them with each passing week. Though some took this as good sign and some even hastily thought the Helldivers might be winning, most took this news with caution. Alpha especially had a feeling that this drop in activity was not a sign of weakness at all. If anything, they suspected the organization was up to something, or that something big would be coming soon. When Hellspawn made a comeback, and they almost certainly would, it would be with a vengeance...

Right now though, that left Alpha with some time on their hands that they were using for shore leave.

Alaara and Sandra especially had spent the afternoon running a lovely hot bath for themselves which they were both sat in. As if the hot water wasn't enough, they'd added pretty much everything else to the mix. Bath salts, scented candles, glasses with some Asari wine, dimmed mood lights, and most noticeable of all... a lot of bubbles.

The married couple smiled at each other as they clinked glasses, strands of bubbles clinging to various parts of their bodies, and yet not hiding the nudity of their tits, leaving both of them with an excellent view of each other.

"We really need a bigger gap between fighting and fucking... and moments like this." Alaara said after taking a sip of her wine.

"We had a three week honeymoon that had us and everyone around us naked. Hard to make a bigger gap than that." Sandra said.

Mentioning that conjured up a little memory of the morning after their wedding night when they'd woken up. That had been a great morning...

* * *

**FLASHBACK**

Alaara gently woke to Sandra licking her azure. For her, that was probably one of the very best things to wake up to. Sandra paused when she finally noticed her new wife was awake.

"Good morning, Darling." she smiled.

"Morning to you too." Alaara smiled back.

Sandra took this moment to crawl on top of Alaara and finally settled when she was eye level, their breasts pressing against one another.

"So, now comes the next big question. Just how long are we gonna spend this morning making love until finally going on our honeymoon?" Sandra smiled.

"How long have we got?" Alaara asked, gently caressing Sandra's face.

"3 weeks, maybe 4." Sandra replied, starting to get where her new wife might be going with this.

"One entire day of nudity and sex won't hurt, will it?" Alaara asked suggestively.

"No, it really won't." Sandra said as she and Alaara kissed while Alaara's eyes turned black once more.

Both their tits enlarging at the same time while still pressed together as they readied themselves for another round. They never could get over how much they loved the sensation, how arousing it was for them, how much the sensation tingled them, how much they loved it. One could almost say they were addicted to the union enlargement biotics. Even they themselves couldn't' help but feel that way too. But honestly... they didn't care...

**END OF FLASHBACK**

* * *

"You know what I've realized lately?" Alaara asked.

"What's that?"

"Well, we've had other partners with us before, right?"

"Yeah?"

"But there's one we've both been curious about, but never tried yet."

"Who?"

Alaara though simply raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. It wasn't long before Sandra then realized who her wife had been referring to.

"Oh. You know him though. He'd be a tough one to convince."

"I thought you liked a challenge."

"True." Sandra conceded. "And actually... even though he's with Nyara, we could always have a little word with her as well. See if she might be able to convince him. Hell, she might even want to join in too.

"A foursome? Now that would be interesting. I like the way you think." Alaara said with intrigue.

"This is your fault, you know." Sandra smiled. "Ever since we became bondmates, your depravity has been rubbing off on me more and more."

"And you love it." Alaara smiled, hooking her arms around Sandra's neck and slowly pulling the Helldiver closer to her.

"You're right, I do." Sandra smiled.

The two both giggled slightly as they began kissing, even as they playfully covered each other with even more bubbles. Right as they began considering the idea of whether they wanted to have sex in the bath or not however, they were interrupted when Sandra's omni tool began beeping with a message notification.

"Oh come on! Now?! Of all times?!" Sandra complained.

"Just ignore it." Alaara sighed, sharing her wife's annoyance.

"Could be important, darling." Sandra said, reluctantly halting what had been a perfect moment for them as she checked the message.

What she ended up seeing made her skin almost turn white.

"Oh shit!"

* * *

Austin had just finished a vid call with his mother and sister. If thigns were indeed going the way many had been saying for a while, it sounded like he might be seeing them a bit more often. A recent attack from Hellspawn in Alliance territory had triggered an immediate response from them and they had proposed an alliance with the Helldivers in the ongoing civil war. It hadn't been officially finalized yet, but both sides were pretty much on-board and everyone was almost certain it would absolutely happen.

Couple that with the Asari recently lending support as well, and it sounded like the balance in this war was going to tip right the way in the Helldivers' favor.

It was at that moment however, Sandra suddenly rushed in, still dripping wet and with a towel wrapped around herself. Alaara soon followed, though she made no effort whatsoever to cover up her nudity.

"Shepard!"

"What's wrong, Sandra?" Austin asked in immediate concern.

Given the comm expert's sudden entrance, and given also that she was only in a towel, this must be immensely serious.

"We just got a message... intended for you. It's Nyara... she... someone has her." Sandra explained.

"What?! Who?!"

"I don't know. Whoever it was kept his face hidden. The message came with a video."

Activating her omni tool, Sandra displayed the message on Alpha's bigger screen. For the moment, the message just seemed to be blank, but it was clearly a video of some kind of dark environment. In the background and out of shot, a distinctly male voice could be heard.

 _"Commander Shepard. That is what they call you now, right?"_ it said. _"You may not remember me, but I certainly remember you. I hope this message finds you well, or as well as it can all things considered. I imagine though you're wondering why you should take this seriously. Naturally in your line of work, you face threats like this at every turn. So, I have a little friend of yours here to make sure you listen."_

The unseen figure then picked up the camera and turned it round. The sight that greeted Alpha shocked them: A large cage hanging from a ceiling mount, and a very familiar Asari imprisoned inside. Nyara had been stripped naked, fitted with a biotic suppression collar and simply lent against the edge of the cage. There was signs of anger in her face as she looked at the unseen person operating the camera.

" _Do I have your attention now?"_ the figured asked. _"Fortunately for you, nothing too bad has happened to her. Well, not yet anyway. That's entirely up to you. No doubt you're now wondering what it is I want, so I'll waste no time. Its very simple, Shepard, come and find her. I've made no attempt whatsoever to bounce this signal, or mask where it came from. No doubt your comm expert has already traced its source. Bring yourself to us, your Asari mistress will live and be released no worse for the wear. Refuse however, and she will still be released... although much worse for the wear. I assume you'd like to avoid an unpleasant outcome? And don't bother bringing any of your friends along for this either. If you die, she will be pay for price for it. And don't even try any tricks to conceal them either. Trust me when I say this, I will know. And I assure you, I am definitely not bluffing. No armour either. By all means, bring your weapons, but I see anything that hints you have your Helldiver armor either with you, or on standby, or anything at all along those lines, she dies. Make up your mind soon, Shepard. I will be patient for only so long. You have 24 hours. I'll be waiting."_

With that, the message ended, leaving the room in silence.

"What's the plan then, Boss?" Kraan asked to Austin.

Everyone else also turned to Austin, expecting an answer. The one they got however wasn't what they'd expected.

"Plan? The plan is, you're all staying here. I'm going to deal with this." Austin replied.

"On your own? Shepard that's insane. Its obviously a trap." Alaara objected.

"Of course it is. But you heard him, he only wants me and he'll kill Nyara if he sees any of you." Austin said as he began packing stuff into a small backpack and gathering up his weapons.

"There's no way he could know for certain if we're with you hidden." said Hawk.

"That's not a risk I'm willing to take, not when her life is on the line."

"I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists." Sandra said.

"We don't. And I have no intention of negotiating anything. I'm getting her back, and I'll cut down anyone who gets in my way." Austin said coldly.

"Shepard, this isn't you..." Xun said, but Austin interrupted her.

"I have many deaths on my conscience. I won't let Nyara's be among them." he said calmly, picking up his sword and fastening it to a clip on his left side.

"You love her, don't you?" Alaara asked,

Austin didn't reply to that and just let out a heavy sigh. That told Alpha everything.

"Go and do what you have to, Commander. And do us all a favor... come back alive, and give that bastard hell for us." said Telrass, handing Austin the hooded poncho that she'd specially made for him as a birthday gift.

"Roger that."

* * *

Nyara simply sat in the large cage she'd been imprisoned in. When she'd first had this built for more... private purposes, she never would've thought she'd find herself in it, or at least in it as an actual proper prisoner without someone else playing along with the sexual act. Shepard had never been been one for prisoner kinks given that his line of work often involved the real thing.

For many long hours she kept mumbling to herself to try and stave off the boredom. She wasn't actually bothered at all that she'd been stripped naked and forced into this cage. The only problem she had was boredom while she waited for Austin to arrive. And she knew he would. But...

"Goddess this is fucking boring." she groaned in annoyance.

As she began debating on whether she should try making lots of noise to annoy her captor, her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the whole cage suddenly lurched violently. Someone was pulling on it. None other than the one who'd put her in this cage suddenly gave a violent pull and the hanging cage broke free of the chain holding it up to the ceiling.

Nyara had no idea who this man was, but he was certainly a big chap. 6 foot 6 tall, a build with plenty of muscle for strength but not really lean, mercenary clothes that looked aged and worn and had clearly seen better days, and even the man himself didn't look all that tidy either. Overgrown tangled shoulder length long hair which looked as though color was badly faded, and an equally long, tangled and untidy beard. Hints of red, but definitely faded at the roots and spreading.

Nyara held tight to the bars to steady herself as her captor actually managed to hold up the heavy cage with two hands. The only human she'd ever known to be able to do that without armor or any kind of assistance was Shepard, so this man's strength worried her greatly. Worse still, he was definitely not being gentle.

"Your precious goddess won't save you here, Asari whore!"

He then threw the cage violently and it hit the floor hard, clanging loudly with each hit. The whole thing left Nyara dazed enough that was initially unable to try and fight back when her captor forced the cage open and hauled her up into the air by the neck with just one hand.

"One can only hope your boyfriend will turn up before I lost my patience!"

Nyara's vision cleared, but she barely had a moment before the man then threw her back tot he ground with enough force that it could've broken every bone in her body. Frankly, it was a miracle that didn't happen.

"You may be a tough bitch, but everyone has their limits."

The man's gloating though was short lived as Nyara suddenly grabbed some chained handcuffs that been within reach and swung them right at his face. The full force of the swing hit him right in the jaw, even drawing blood. To Nyara's surprise however, although her captor did reach up to his mouth, no scream of agony came. At the very most, only a pained grunt came from the impact, followed by a groan from the man who then angrily spat blood out of his mouth.

Nyara tried to resist, but could do little as her captor once again picked her up, this time with even more aggression and literally smashed her against the wall as he pinned her there by the neck, his other hand still lightly nursing his bleeding face and bruised jawline.

"That will cost you an eye..." he snarled. "And both of your hands."

Very slowly, he drew a knife from his side and held it dangerously close to the Asari's right eye.

"I wonder if Shepard will still desire you when disfigured."

Right before he could make any kind of cut however, his omni tool suddenly bleeped.

"Saved by the bell."

* * *

Since the message had been quite clear that Austin come alone without his armor, Austin had sought to it that he'd dressed in an outfit that would be discreet enough for him to not attract attention to himself, but also be practical should he get into a fight, which he was almost certain was going to happen.

The outfit larger consisted of stuff he'd been able to get from off duty spacer outfit, but then modified to suit both Austin's personal preferences and needs. The lower part like the trousers and the boots remains the same, albeit with a dark navy blue color. Instead of a vest he now wore a form fitting long sleeve shirt, or at leas tit had been a long sleeve shirt before the left arm got torn just below the shoulder. The arm straps and gloves he still kept. The vest was still the same and also navy blue. One significantly new addition however was the hooded poncho. This was actually a gift that Telrass had made for him. Longer at the back reaching down to his waist, whilst the front was much shorter and only came down to about his stomach area. The hood meanwhile was nice and big to allow plenty of head movement as Austin had said before he hated small hoods. The poncho proved handy also in hiding his sword for the moment.

When he finally reached the place that had been instructed on the message, Austin made sure he could take the sword out as easily and quickly as possible when he needed to. As he entered the building, he soon found himself in the room of a massive warehouse. From the looks of things, it hadn't been abandoned either so that gave Austin all the more reason to deal with these mercs, whoever they were. Only one light provided the only illumination hanging from the ceiling and Austin soon found found himself surrounded by about 8 mercs, all armed and clearly ready for a fight.

The mercs though didn't seem fazed... big mistake on their part.

"He said you'd come." one of them said.

"Where's the Asari?" Austin simply asked.

"With our boss."

Austin though was in no mood for vague answers.

"I'm only gonna say this once... walk away, now." he said, in a very clam but growling tone as he lowered his hood.

"Is that supposed to scare us, Helldiver?" one of the mercs laughed. "Out of your armor, you're nothing. Takes more than a tiny little sword to frighten people like us."

"Then you're even dumber than you look." Austin said as he drew Excalibur. "So, you going to stand around talking all day, or are we going to fight?"

The one with the harpoon gun fired almost immediately. One swift swipe from his sword however, and Austin countered the shot like it was nothing. For a moment, the other mercs were left a bit surprised that he managed to do that. The shock soon wore off for the one was closest though and he charged, swinging his sword wide at Austin. The wide swing though made it all too easy for Austin to counter it, following it with a deep slash to the merc's abdomen, the pain toppling him to his knees. Austin then thrust his blade right into the merc's throat as he fell. A brutal pull then tore the sword violently out, tearing the poor merc's head in two and leaving his body lying in a massive pool of his own blood.

The next merc had no more luck either as he swung at Austin, only for the Helldiver to counter his sword swing to the side as well and similarly slash him in the abdomen as well, except his slash went a lot deeper and pretty much split him wide open. A third merc tried the exact same strike as well with a small axe, but once Austin blocked his bloww and thrust right into the merc's leg.

A fourth merc swung as well, only to be blocked, but this time his attack actually ended up in a blade lock with Austin. Before he could try to break it for another swing however, Austin's left hand grabbed hold his. Unable to move his own sword, Austin was completely free to disengage the lock and his blade slit the merc's throat. He didn't let go of the merc's sword though and kept it in his left hand. In fact, that actually came in handy when another merc tried to hit the Helldiver with his gun, only to instead find the weapon hitting the merc's. He barely had a second to react before Austin then swung with his sown sword and Excalibur cut the mercs hands completely off, cutting his head off as well as Austin swung back up to finish the job.

The whole time, the merc with the harpoon gun had been trying to quickly reload, but such a weapon was unfortunately slow to do so. By the time he had managed to reload in fact, it was already too late and Austin threw the merc sword right at him and it embedded itself right in his chest.

The next merc who attacked, tried to flank him, attacking from the side. Unfortunately for him that didn't work either as Austin simply blocked the blow and spun, his sword stabbing right into the merc's neck.

Only two left.

Despite this though, they didn't seem deterred at all. The first one charged... Big mistake, as all he'd end up doing was charging right onto Austin's waiting sword and impaling himself on it. As the Helldiver pushed the merc off, he took his dagger as he advanced on the last merc who if anything seemed full of rage at seeing all his comrades die.

"You'll die for that!" he yelled.

This time it was Austin that attacked first. The merc countered this, but Austin was quick to attack again. As this blow was also countered, Austin spun, the blade in his left hand thrusting first. The merc blocked it, but he was unprepared for Excalibur thrusting at him as well, scraping the side of his weapon and partly cutting his side. Taking advantage of the merc's pain, Austin then thrust the other sword right into the merc's chest and pushed him right against the wall.

"You should've listened." Austin said coldly.

And with that, he swung Excalibur and decapitated the merc.

"Good, you haven't lost that fighting spirit, Shepard."

Austin turned to finally see Nyara, and the man who'd been the case of all this. His initial anger at seeing Nyara forced on her knees and naked was soon replaced by surprise when he saw the man's face. Despite the untidy beard and long hair, he still saw a familiar face...

"Sylas." he said coldly.

Sylas Machina was a former Helldiver in training. Both he and Austin had been in the same training together. Both in basic and advanced under a mentor. To say that they hadn't gotten along would not have done it justice. Whilst Austin had always been perfectly nice to everyone and had struck up good friendships with everyone he shared training with, Sylas it seemed was kind of the opposite. He lacked patience, he'd been reckless and whenever he sparred with some of them as part of training he'd keep trying to push them even harder, pretty much refusing to relent or go easy on them if some of their weaknesses came into play or they had a disadvantage over him. For him, training was pretty much a way to weed out the weak, rather than make a weak stronger. This had been something that he'd not only clashed with Austin on multiple occasions, but also General Zartrack as well.

The final straw had come during a genuine training exercise. Sylas had been put in charge in the hope that the responsibility as well as the acknowledgement of his team mate's strengths and weaknesses would finally make him understand. Sadly for him, it had only exposed the worst of him when he'd not only put the mission first above his team mates which had very nearly got one of them killed but he had made a choice would have resulted in 100% collateral damage... if it hadn't been for Austin.

It was only thanks to his intervention that the exercise had been salvaged. He'd relieved Sylas of command, having to actually go so far as to knock him out when he'd refused to back down even when no one else had come to his aid, and had reluctantly taken command. He'd even managed to help some of the others overcome some of their weaknesses.

Sylas had immediately attempted to have Austin charged with insubordination, but the Arkane Council and Zartrack had all agreed that Sylas' handling of the situation as well as his complete disregard for the Helldiver's code rule about avoiding the death of innocents was unacceptable. He'd almost immediately been dishonorably discharged and removed from any kind of operation to do with the Helldivers. He hadn't been heard or seen from since... until now.

"You do remember me. I'm impressed. It's been a long time. You look well." Sylas said.

"And you look like shit." Austin retorted. He then turned to Nyara. "Are you alright?"

"Been worse. Your friend's bark is worse than his bite." Nyara said, making sure that Sylas heard that.

"I see your taste in Asari remains the same." Sylas said, a clear hint of disgust in his voice.

"You got what you wanted. Here I am. Now let her go." Austin said.

Surprisingly, Sylas actually did. Although not without doing it in a way that was clearly designed to anger Austin. He actually hit Nyara so hard it knocked her out as he shoved her away uncaringly.

As the two opponents began to slowly circle one another, ready for their fight, Sylas drew his own dual swords.

"All these years, and still you hold a grudge against me? You really are pathetic." Austin said coldly.

Sylas attacked first, his two swords swinging violently at Austin. Despite the wideness of these swings and the lack of precision, they had plenty of stability. Sylas had the advantage of steady hands. Austin only just managed to lean himself back enough the first two times that the swings missed him. The third, Austin finally blocked, his sword clashing violently with Sylas'. Sylas attacked from both sides with his swords, Austin only just managing to move quickly to block each strike. The shear force that Sylas put into each attack was enough Austin felt like any of them would either knock him back or knock his sword out of his hands. Fortunately though, his own strength compensated.

A sudden spin from Sylas caught Austin off guard but he manged to react fast enough in time and was to block with his own blade and used the blade guard to force both swords down. The two opponents glared at one another for a moment in their blade lock before Sylas disengaged and resumed his attack.

An unbalanced lunge from Sylas' left blade however gave Austin a good opening he needed and he was able to deliver such a sharp kick that it not only knocked Sylas' sword out of his hand and sent it flying, but he was pretty sure he caused a wrist fracture as it seemed to cause Sylas an immense amount of pain. Seizing the chance, Austin pushed against Sylas and managed to pin him to the wall in a blade lock.

"You ruined my life, Shepard! Did you honestly expect me to just forget that?!" Sylas roared at him.

Austin was suddenly interrupted by a sharp pain in his right side and looked down to see that Sylas had managed to draw a knife to replace the sword he'd lost and stabbed him. It was barely on the edge though so, there was no way that knife had stabbed into any internal organs. Being a Helldiver as well with the Helldiver serum and being a geneblood as well however meant that this was more just like a bee sting rather than something life threatening. Even Austin himself only let out a pained groan at best.

Sylas finally managed to push him off and once again pressed the attack with Austin blocking each strike. On one particular attack he attempted to use the knife again, but Austin blocked it this time using his free hand.

Sylas turned this into another spin attack which attempted to slash at Austin's back but he immediately managed to bring Excalibur behind his back and blocked the attack before it even had a chance to touch him, once more with the two locking blades.

"You brought it on yourself, Sylas. Just as you've brought this on yourself as well." he said.

"Empty words, Shepard. Our people always say that its actions that speak louder."

This was met with Austin suddenly pushing hard against Sylas' blade with enough force that it knocked his opponents blade away. using the momentum of this, he swung at Sylas, bringing his blade down hard. Sylas only just brought both his sword and knife up in time to block the attack, but only just enough. In fact, the edge of Austins' sword managed to land a very deep gash in his left shoulder.

"Quite right." Austin said.

Sylas once again pun angrily as he pushed Austin's sword out of his shoulder, his knife slashing Austin's left thigh as he did. Still though it didn't make Austin cry out or clutch the wound. He simply took with a slight groan as though he'd simply been stung by a small insect or something.

* * *

Nyara regained consciousness to the sound of banging metal and soon caught sight of the duel going on. Despite her desire to interfere, she dared not for fear of simply getting in the way. All she could do was watch and hope Austin won.

* * *

Neither opponent seemed to be winning as they continued clashing back and forth. Even when Sylas managed to score a hit on Austin's shoulder, it barely slowed him down. Sylas on the other hand had received several more deep cuts and both of them could tell that blood loss was taking its toll. Sylas was tiring, becoming slower, less aggressive. His anger and rage was only thing still keeping him going enough that he was still keeping up Austin and in turn giving the Helldiver very little chance to strike.

One another spin attack, Sylas had both his sword and his knife in the same hand and attempted to stab with the knife, but Austin managed to grab the knife with his hand, his strength holding it back.

With only further frustration, Sylas pulled the knife back, cutting Austins' hand. This only seemed to be a flaw on his part though as it seemed to make Austin go on the offensive and now it was him attacking until Sylas tried to attack back only for his attack to be countered. Reacting fast, Austin slashed Sylas' outer wrist and hand which caused him to drop the knife. Another cut followed deep into Sylas' left thigh, a hit with the pommel which actually broke his already cracked ribs, and a deep cut to the inside of Sylas' right arm which definitely felt as though some muscles and nerves had been severed too.

In almost constant agonizing pain, and now disarmed of both his weapons, Sylas fell to his knees, his head colliding with the pommel of Excalibur as Austin used it to hit him again. Falling on his back, Sylas clutched at what he could of his bleeding wounds as he glared up at Austin.

"You son of a bitch!"

"Its nothing personal, Sylas. Well, maybe it is a little personal. You've always been a pain in the arse." Austin said, panting slightly as he got his breath back.

"Screw you!"

"You delude yourself in continuing to believe you're a victim in this. Don't think I've forgotten why you were kicked out of training, why I turned you in. All those innocents you nearly slaughtered, and for what? It does not engender peace to cut your way to resolution."

"Wrong! Were that we applied the sword more liberally and more often, the galaxy would be a better place than it is today." Sylas retorted.

"In this instance, I concur." Austin said, holding his sword close enough to Sylas' throat that a single move would slice it open.

Sylas though didn't seem frightened by this. If anything, he seemed to lightly laugh it off.

"It may have been years, but I doubt you've changed that much, Shepard. I'm unarmed, wounded, defeated. You won't kill me. It's not your style." he said confidently.

Austin however proved him slightly wrong when he suddenly stabbed the tip of his blade into the similar place that he'd stabbed Austin earlier with the knife, causing Sylas to let out a pained cry as blood began to slowly pool under him from the wound.

"Try me." Austin said coldly, glaring down at Sylas.

Sylas simply glared back with rage as he fought through the pain.

You are right though. I'm not going to be the one to kill you."

Sylas couldn't' help but crack a smug smile... but it was short lived.

"But she will."

Sylas only had a moment to look up before Nyara suddenly plunged his own knife directly into his chest. It barely missed his heart, but it definitely stabbed into a lung and his already bad bleeding only intensified.

"Good riddance!" Nyara snarled, even going so far as spit on him before she then turned to Austin. "Sorry about that. Needed to let off a little steam. He killed two of my girls when broke in for me, kept me in a cage for 24 hours naked and then knocked me out."

"I could think of worse scenarios." Austin said, wincing slightly as the adrenaline finalyl worse off and his hand flew tot he stab wound in his side.

Nyara was quick to help him though as she put his arm over her shoulder and helped him out of the warehouse, leaving Sylas to die of his wounds.

* * *

Getting back to Nyara's apartment was not that difficult. The warehouse was almost right next to it, and they'd been able to use the backstreets to avoid anyone seeing them, especially since Nyara still didn't have any clothes.

Once they'd finally reached her room, Nyara set Austin down ont he Sofa and immediately went to get some bandages and extra medi gel while Austin worked on making his own start in tending to them himself.

"Its not as bad as it looks. Trust me, I've had worse." Austin said as he lightly applied medi gel to the stab wound in his side.

"Oh I'm sure. But regardless, I think it'd be better for both of us if you stopped bleeding all over my floor." Nyara said. "Take your shirt off."

Austin felt little need to object and simply did as she said. He couldn't' help but notice also as she began wetting a cloth to help clean the wounds, she wasn't even attempting to cover her still naked body.

"Aren't you going to put something on?" he asked.

"Its nothing you haven't seen before. Besides, I'd rather not get blood on anything until I've treated these wounds." the Asari replied. "This will sting a bit."

Austin was braced, and to be honest it didn't hurt that much as Nyara began dabbing at the wounds with a wet cloth while the medi gel kept doing its work.

"Still, thank you. A part of me worried you might not come." she said.

"I'm shocked you'd even consider the thought." Austin smiled, wincing slightly as another dab stung him a bit.

"Its not everyday that a regular fuck buddy turns up to rescue someone like me."

"Is that all I am to you?" Austin chuckled. "That hurts even more than this."

"Friends with benefits then? I think we're a little past that, you and I." Nyara said, giving him a slight smile.

She then also noticed a small, but rather deep cut in his leg. Austins' gaze followed hers and she then gave him an expecting look.

"Seriously?" Austin asked.

"Best to be sure. You want to talk them off, or should I?" Nyara asked, a hint of suggestiveness in her voice.

Austin simply nodded to her. If she wanted to, why not?

"Don't worry. You know I'm gentle when I need to." Nyara smiled.

Austin simply lay back and let the Asari do what she needed to as she undid his belt, unzipped his trousers and gently peeled them down. At the same time, he also kicked his boots off. He'd probably take a shower in a few minutes anyway... and the chances of him getting dressed again tonight were unlikely. Nyara couldn't' help but give Austin a slightly mischievous smile as she pulled his trousers off all the way. She left his boxers on for now, but she was unable to avoid staring at the slightly noticeable bulge. Even with some battle injury he could still get in the mood. As she dabbed at the wound gently, he winced slightly, but she soon had it cleaned and soon had it bandaged up.

As Austin finally relaxed on the sofa, Nyara poured them both a glass of Asari wine and they drank as she sat down next to him.

"You seem troubled." Austin said, noting how Nyara didn't seem as content or relieved as he was right now.

"Its just something that's going on with me lately." she said. "Past few months or so I've been having a weird hunger feeling, but it doesn't' feel like a normal kind of hunger, and it won't go away with food and drink. Just has me a bit concerned."

Austin wasn't really sure what to say to that. In all the teachings he'd had about Asari, he'd never heard of something like this. He could only hope it wasn't some kind of illness. As he tried to think of anything to say to try and brighten Nyara's mood, she seemed to notice his concern and simply gave him a reassuring smile.

"But then, a part of me has started to wonder... perhaps I'm missing you. This thing we have... its meant a lot to me. It was fun before, and yet we're still going."

She reached up slightly and touched the side of Austin's face as his gaze lingered on her.

"It means a lot to me too." he said.

Nyara next words came with some hesitance, but she finally found the courage to say them.

"I love you."

Most would've reacted with surprise, but not Austin. He'd long had his suspicions this relationship of there's had finally gotten to that point. And while he hadn't been of what to think of it at first, here, now... there was no hesitation, save for maybe the actual speech that followed.

"I… I love you too."

For Nyara, it seemed that was all she needed and she pulled Austin into a deep kiss, this time much slower than their previous ones, both of them savoring each other. Nyara it seemed to the initiative and actually pushed Austin lightly until he was laid back on the sofa with her on top as they continued kissing. It was Austin started getting more into it however that something odd began to happen. Something about him felt odd. He felt tired, felt as though his muscles were starting to fail him. He tried to force his eyes wider open or attempt to sit up, but he couldn't even find the strength to do that. And then he looked Nyara who seemed to have stopped kissing him. To his surprise and also worry and horror, she was smiling at him. But not a normal smile... a sinister smile. Did she know what has happening? Worse still, was she the cause of it?

Austin tried to think how though. There wasn't any way it could be a sedative. Helldivers were mostly immune to those, and even the ones they weren't immune to would only work in large doses. What's more, even the very strongest in the highest dose only worked over a long time, whereas this was happening way too quickly.

As all these questions rushed through his head, his vision began to darken. More and more he felt himself slipping away. For a split second Austin worried that maybe he'd been poisoned. But that shouldn't have been possible either. If it was poison he'd be in pain or something, or he would've tasted it if it had been something he'd consumed.

In the end though, darkness came and he lost all consciousnesses as he heard a faint but understandable phrase...

"Soon, my love."

* * *

Consciousness finally returned to Austin and his vision gradually cleared. His surroundings were unfamiliar for a moment as he pushed himself up onto his knees. Just lots of red and faint shapes moving about. He was also aware that he was naked and wet. As his vision further cleared he now became aware that he seemed to be in Nyara's large hot tub again... but it was very different. It was even darker than before, the steam was almost red in appearance and the water... it didn't look like water anymore. It didn't even feel like water. It looked and felt exactly like... blood.

He also now saw that he wasn't alone. All of Nyara's girls were here as well, all of them partially or either mostly submerged in the blood as they all seemed to be having sex with one another and various different positions.

At that moment, Nyara then appeared in Austin's field of vision, equally naked as her girls. Her eyes were black, but this didn't seem something from a union and he didn't feel as though his mind was joined with hers, but she certainly seemed to be exerting some sort of influence over him.

"Ah, awake at last. I've been waiting for you." she said, gently caressing his face, something about her touch easing a great deal of his confusion.

"What..." Austin tried to say, but Nyara stopped him with a finger to his lips.

"Shh. No more worrying. Just you... and me. Come my love, join us. Claim what it rightfully yours."

Nyara took his hand and began leaning back. Despite all of this, Austin felt unable to resist and allowed the Asari to pull him as they both lay down in the blood red liquid all while the many other Asari continued int heir little orgy. His hands gently caressed her and she in gave him some slight biotic stimulation.

"That's it. Let your true self out. The urge to mate... to breed." Nyara moaned.

Her gaze it seemed traveled slightly lower. As Austin's followed her eyes he also noticed something different about Nyara. Had her tits gotten bigger? They certainly looked as though they were larger. But then his gaze went even lower to where Nyara was looking.

His cock and balls felt strange... They looked darker than before, as though his cock had filled with way more blood than before. He then felt a tightness near the base as a hot feeling enveloped his member as it suddenly grew erect... and seemed to keep going, exceeding its old size. It quite literally bloated into the biggest and baddest erection he'd ever had. A pleasurable feeling almost overwhelmed his senses. It felt great. His now larger cock throbbed with bulging veins and an almost hard as rock feel from so much blood. Pre-cum gently began to trickle from the pulsing mushroom head, almost begging to find itself inside a pussy... the one right in front of it between Nyara's parted legs that looked like it too was calling to be filled.

Austin it seemed found a new aggressiveness course through him and he pinned both of Nyara's hands above her as she smiled eagerly in anticipation of what was to come.

"Do it. Take me." Nyara moaned.

She then reached down lower to rub at his cum filled orbs. Austin shuddered and instinctively thrust towards her, his brain befuddled by surging hormones, bewitched by the Asari below of them moaned in pleasure as the Helldiver's pulsing shaft made contact with her drooling Azure. Taking hold of Nyara's somehow larger breasts, Austin thrust himself into her, bucking and pistoning his hips, driving his cock into that cool, wet hole, giving himself over to the need to impregnate her.

"YES, MY LOVE! SHOW ME HOW MUCH OF A BEAST YOU ARE!" Nyara moaned.

Holding his shoulders for support, her glazed eyes looked deep into Austin's. Nyara moaned, pushing her chest out into his hands, allowing him to twiddle her nipples. He hungrily kissed her face, nipping lightly at her lip, rolling his tongue over hers and savoring her inhuman tastes. Nyara answered in kind with a kiss of her own, purring and moaning into his mouth. Her vibrating breasts massaged his hands as he kneaded them.

Her pussy contracted and pulled at his throbbing member; her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Her orgasm shook her body so much it was a wonder it didn't make Austin cum with her. The Asari broke the lustful kiss and panted, looking at Austin with desire. Austin looked back at her with need, his lower region drenched in her sexual fluids. It wasn't enough for him yet. He still had yet to cum. He needed to cum! Instinctively, and without really thinking clearly, Austin gave Nyara a bite on the side of her neck. Not deep enough to draw blood but a sign of dominance, even as he continued to buck and thrust into her, yearning for the release. Seeing Nyara's face completely overtaken by bliss, the Helldiver couldn't resist kissing her again, sucking her tongue back into his mouth to taste her once more.

Then, finally, Austin felt himself drive over the edge and released all his pent up cum, his wide, bulging cock gushing into the Asari's ready womb. In fact, due to the delicious massage his shaft was receiving from Nyara's azure, he found himself pumping out even more cum than he ever had before, quickly filling Nyara to the brim and beyond. It wasn't until the Asari's belly was distended that he stopped. With a gasp and a sigh of utter relief, Austin slumped into Nyara's arms, collapsing onto her belly and laying there to regain his strength, feeling the heat in her gut that marked the beginning of a new life she now carried within her... the first of many.

"Goddess yes! Look how big you made me. She's going to be beautiful, my love." Nyara moaned in bliss as she caressed her cum inflated stomach bulge. "Now... meld with me. Become one with me."

Nyara took Austin's face into her hands and looked directly into his eyes. Right in that moment however, Austin found that he was in control again. And in that moment, with a combination of both confusion... and horror, Austin finally saw Nyara's mind... and he saw what she intended for him...

Without even hesitating, he suddenly pushed himself off of Nyara and tried to back away from her.

Now suddenly it all fell into place. Why had he not seen it before? The way Nyara had always managed to impress him with her sophistication and sex appeal, how her body had told his that she'd bring unimaginable ecstasy, how her scent evoked emotions long hidden, how her eyes always promised him thing he'd hesitated to of others, and above all the hunger she'd mentioned earlier.

Nyara wasn't just any Asari...

**"You're an Adat-Yakshi."**

"Been on the run as long as I can remember. So much changed though when I met you. You helped get rid of my former boss, you allowed me to set up here with all my girls..." Nyara said, managing to hold her own even as Austin struggled against her.

"After all we've been through, all we've done, you'd just throw that all away?! All of what you said before was a lie?!" Austin said.

He tried to land a kick on her, but Nyara managed to act faster and directed two of her dancers to hold down the Helldiver's legs, despite their strength.

"Sorry to break your heart, Shepard. But its been an act all along. The only reason I didn't try to meld with you sooner is because you're able to fuck even harder than you fight. I doubt any other man will ever be able to come even close. We've had our fun, and I'll admit you've been an excellent lover I will miss greatly, but I cannot deny my body's need anymore. I cannot deny how strong you are, what you will give me in turn." Nyara smiled evilly. "Look into my eyes, Shepard. Don't you see, we want to you here, we need you, I need you. I need to feed off you. You are mine... lover. I have so much pleasure to share with you."

Grabbing both Austin's forearms, she forced them both down and held them there, even with Austin trying to break free.

"Don't... do this!"

"Embrace eternit..."

Right before she could finish however, Austin suddenly headbutted her in forehead. It was just enough that it made her lose her focus for a moment and on fo her hands flew to her head in pain. Reacting on instinct, Austin thrust his free arm at Nyara's stomach... and activated his omni blade.

Shock and pain overtook Nyara as the blade sank right into her. For a brief moment, her eyes turned normal again and she looked directly at Austin. Her expression almost seemed more like one of confusion and sadness. Almost as though as she was saying "Why?"

Worse still, a small tear leaked from her eye before all life seemed to fade from her and her body went completely limp. The moment she slumped down on him the whole room suddenly changed. The red mist, the blood, event he whole warm and erotic feel that had been there before was gone an instant. Even the dancers suddenly stopped what they were doing as the Nyara had previously had on them broke. Austin panted slightly as he let himself fall to the floor in relief while also pushing Nyara's body off of him.

"By the goddess! How'd you break free like that?" one of the dancers said, similarly in both shock and relief.

"You knew what was happening?" Austin asked, surprised that they didn't seem surprised as he'd thought they might be.

"Her influence was so strong, we were completely overcome by lust and arousal. But you freed us. Thank you."

"I didn't want it to end like this." Austins aid with regret. "But she gave me no choice."

"None of us blame you, Shepard. We had no idea either she was an Ardat Yakshi." one of the dancers said sympathetically. "If you hadn't done what you did, she might very well have fed off all of us, and many more. It may not feel like it, but you did the right thing."

"What will you do now?" Austin asked as he began getting dressed.

"We'll make sure her body is turned over to the right people. As for business, we can decide amongst ourselves who will keep running it." another dancer replied as she and the others also started dressing.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Ardat Yakshi aside, we like these jobs and we'd hate to lose them."

"If that's how you want it, I won't stand int he way."

As Austin turned to leave though he was stopped when one of the dancers called him.

"Shepard... I know it doesn't mean much and it won't be the same, but... you'll always be welcome here, should you decide to come back. You saved our lives. We owe you that much at the very least."

"I... thank you."

* * *

The gentle beep of the heart monitor constantly rang faintly in Sylas' ears. Amazingly, despite that Nyara had delivered what should've been a killing blow, he was still alive. Although alive maybe wasn't the best of words to describe his current state. Hooked up to life support, left arm and right leg broken in multiple places withe casts holding them altogether, along with multiple deep cuts and severed nerves that didn't even take a medical expert to be judged repairable, multiple bone fractures, broken ribs, punctured lung, internal bleeding that was only just being kept in check, and suspected brain damage. It was any wonder he was still alive.

He still had no idea where he was, but it certainly wasn't a hospital. If anything, it looked more like a lab... or an operating room. At that moment, the doors opened and a figure wearing a lab coat walked in, a woman...

It was Elsa.

"They weren't lying. You really are a mess. Its a wonder you're still alive." she said in her familiar German accent. "You disappointed us, Sylas. You came to us, willingly offering your help in killing Shepard and even being given help from some our troops... and you failed. Most especially disappointing is that the final blow was struck by an Asari, an alien. Most of Hellspawn believe you a waste of time now, that we should just disconnect you from life support and leave fate to decide if you live or die. But I come also with good news for you though. My boss is willing to give you a second chance. He and I believe you're still of some use to us. What's more, we believe we can give you a chance at immortality, perhaps even invincibility. Assuming of course, you survive."

More scientists and doctors then entered carrying various different tools and surgical equipment.

"Let me be clear though, this whole process is an experiment. Truth be told, we don't even know what might happen. You could very well remain dead, and even if it somehow truly does bring you back to life, there's no telling if you'll even be the same. And even then, you will never truly be one of us. You will be a suicide trooper, a disposable tool, nothing more. Any battle that you survive or manage to walk away from will be pure luck, nothing more."

Sylas struggled, but it was pretty much in vain. There was barely any strength left in him and the medicines and drugs he was on made him barely able to move as Elsa literally deactivated his life support.

"Good night."

An almost pained cry of desperation escaped Sylas as he could only stare at Elsa as his vision faded, the fear and uncertainty of what might happen next terrifying him in a way he'd never been before. Even sadder was the fact that although this was not the last thought he would have, it was the last sane one...

* * *

**The original plan had been for Sylas to just appear in this and that would be it. But then an idea hit me of increasing his role a bit more. So he'll certainly return in the next chapter, but it will be in a VERY different way. Hopefully that next chapter won't be far off and one thing I will say, it'll represent a significant shift in action scene writing as I've kind of realized previous fights have always been a bit tame, so the next chapter... lets just say that hopefully you'll start feeling more sorry for the environments rather than the characters.**

**Bye for now. :)**


End file.
